She’s Crafty. Sort of.

Actually no. Ask anyone and I will deny being crafty any time, any day of the week.  There was that brief period in the late 90s where I scrapbooked but to that all I can say is, "I got caught up in the frenzy, man!"  I am thrifty.  I like being economical, hard times or not.  Finding a bargain or way to save money kind of gets me all hot and bothered.  It only seems natural now that I combined the two practices and came up with this idea for The Comedian's last birthday.Yup, I made cupcake toppers and it was free courtesy of Mooo.comFace masks for the "Cheeky Monkey" theme at Mooo.com.  Only costs me a $1 for the sticks.The bags were bought at Micheal's in a pack for less than $5.  Inside I printed out a coloring page and personalized door … [Read more...]

Two Turns Three

"Let's crush her!" I heard it plain as day even though she was whispering it to her older sister.  The talking out of the side of her mouth, the sneaking and stealing of food, hiding out under furniture and popping up where you would least expect it.  That's all Soucy.  She's smiling one minute, charming you with her smile and the next she is telling you that "I yell at you! I put you in a trap and make you cry!"  She loves eggs and not for eating. She thinks they are her babies that she can carry with her and carry around in blankets.  She will eat all the fruit in your fruit bowl but you will never know until a day later when you grab an apple only to find half of it bitten and gone.  The girl turns each apple or pear around each and every time.  If you … [Read more...]

And Then You Were One

I wish there was a pause button, a way to rewind all the magic that this first year has held for our family now that The Fifth Element has entered our world. While the year has been rough for us in some ways her arrival was the starting point for so many things. When Abey Baby entered this world at 6 p.m. EST last August 18 I really do think I had a Grinch experience. My tiny little heart that had grown so much over the last four years decided to just let loose. I felt flooded by the intense sensation that suddenly I was at peace with motherhood. This kid, this one baby, was my golden ticket to finally feeling myself let go and really accept that this was our life. While I felt that our family was complete after we had The Comedian it ended up not being so. The addition of Abey/The … [Read more...]

Turning 35

I'm turning the big 3-5 today. My Dad says he is officially old now that he has a kid my age. If 35 is old then what the heck is 90? I've been mulling over this new box that I get to check- no longer 25-34 but now 35-54. What the hell is up with that jump? That is what makes me feel old. The thought that someone could think I'm 54? Really? Well, at least by then some of the kids would be out of the house, so there is that. After spending some time thinking about this new bracket, the mid-thirties, I can't help but think back to a post I wrote at DC Metro Moms a few years ago. In it I wrote about how I would rather be in my thirties than my twenties. I can still say that I still feel that way today. While I wouldn't mind being able to spend a whole day doing nothing but watching back to … [Read more...]

Happy Birthday H!

It's H's birthday today. I wish there was a way to surprise him with an in-person birthday wish but that is a bit hard to do when he is in Hawaii for work. I wonder if paradise is just that when you are there without friends or family and you are in a hotel room last designed when Eisenhower was in office. So today H here are my wishes for you-If the Nats play today, I hope they win. (Hey, I can't be checkin' baseball schedules. I've got a blog empire to run and three kids to mold.)You find at least one meal on that island that is memorable in a Diners, Drive-in's and Dive sort of way. No Kitchen Nightmare type establishments today. Rock Star comes on the hotel room TV for you.That you know just how much we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. It's been a long two … [Read more...]

Where’s Mummy?

The sound of a dog barking at an evil squirrel, a baby cries out and two sets of plastic dress up heels clack incessantly through the house.  These are the sounds of my life.  Tomorrow the house will be filled with fourteen girls squealing as a real live princess sings, dances and paints faces all to celebrate TD turning five.  Yeah, I went there.  Just this once, I swear!At Mummy's Product Reviews we are capping off the week with the final time to enter my beauty grab bag giveaway!  Enter NOW!  Just comment or tweet!  Mascara, bath cubes and more are yours for the taking!EvoraKids, Athenos Yogurt, Jessica Nails Spring 2011 collection, Splendid Littles for Target, and a book review of Half in Love by Linda Gray Sexton (Anne Sexton's daughter). It is … [Read more...]

Five. No Jive.

When TD was little she went nuts for the Elmo video, "Five. No Jive!"  That seems like eons ago. Today, my oldest girl, my first baby turns five.  When you were my little bean. I've been going through photos this week, looking over our past few years and seeing how she has changed and yet stayed the same.  Those same big eyes looked up at me as a baby that exude an excited charm today.  As a toddler her blond hair took its sweet time growing in and now look.You are tying your shoes, getting your own snacks, getting ready to ride the big yellow bus to kindergarten next year and already asking me if it is possible to be a "sweets maker", dancer, paleontologist, mommy, a writer and be just like me.  You melt my heart.  You make me smile with your funny words … [Read more...]

The Comedian Turns Two

The last year.  Where did it go? I try to think back and all I see is a haze of pregnancy and randomness.  Now, here we are, celebrating the fact that already The Comedian is two.  I said to H the other day, "It seems like she should be older.  Must be that second kid thing."  Or the fact that she can scale walls like Spiderman, makes H want to put up concertina wire over our balcony, is stealthy as the Invisible Man and can leap tall pieces of furniture in a single bound.  The other night she climbed the coffee table, then her chair and jump off the top of it into her seat all with a single, "Heeyah!" sound.  It was actually quite beautiful.  The grace, the swift, solid movement.  She could be a circus performer, I think.She's clever, … [Read more...]

The BFF

We dropped a few pennies into a well and made the wish that we would be friends forever.  We were three years old.  We were so small we took baths together, slept in the same bed, shared movie theater seats, Happy Meals and even toilet seats.  We were that inseparable.  We thought we were witches casting spells on the other kids at Vacation Bible School.  We were that anti-social with everyone else but each other. Two little peas in a pod. We peed on the floor because we were pretending to be babies.  We were five years old and that authentic.We grew into gawky girls together dressing alike, pouring over Seventeen magazines on our bedroom floors together reading aloud the articles and imagining ourselves ten years older.  We thought the movie Ghost was … [Read more...]

Kid’s Parties- Is It Just Keeping Up With the Joneses?

Cross-posted and archived from DC Metro Moms.  Original post from February 27, 2008.  My daughter turned two this weekend. Yes, I know, it is hard to believe. I can barely wrap my brain around it either. However, you know what the hardest part of her turning two was for me? It was- To have a party or not to have a party? It was the ultimate question on my mind. What would people think if we opted out of this birthday milestone? Would we be labeled as bad, unloving parents?I drove myself mad with this conundrum. I wanted so badly for her birthday to go right I kind of freaked out. There were blog posts about it. I consulted friends and family. Everyone had an opinion and an idea of what I should be doing or forgetting all together. When it came right down to it I felt like my … [Read more...]