The story of the blue hair

Letting the girls be girls is important to me. I want them to be free to experiment, within reason, with things and let them explore. I think it's important for them to become their own person. I have to say "no" enough; it's nice to be able to say "yes" to some less-important matters. Thus, we have a weird concoction in the freezer that's a mixture of who knows what. That's why there is a 2-liter of pop, filled with water and green food coloring, out on the deck to see if the water will evaporate. That's why Kaylin is usually wearing some strange outfit, and why Macy died her hair with Kool-aid. Here's the story...

We'd heard somewhere about dying hair with Kool-aid, and she said she wanted too.  I figured what the heck, as long as it wasn't all her hair.  I told her we'd do it over Christmas. So Sunday night, she picked out Berry Blue Kool-aid, and, after reading online how to do it, we dyed a strand in the back of her hair with Berry Blue Kool-aid. I forgot to wear gloves, and let me tell you...the kool-aid stains. My hands were actually brighter than her hair. But after more online research, toothpaste takes out Kool-aid stains. 

Macy's hair turned out pretty good, but it wasn't very bright. Some of that is because her hair is darker, some of it is because we didn't put on enough. The chlorine in the hotel pool pulled out what was left. She wants to try it again, and I will wear gloves next time.

Greetings from hospital WiFi

Today marks the second day the girls and I have spent in the lobby of the small-town hosptial. Bobby's grandmother is not doing well, and we are visiting. We don't really want the girls to see their great-grandmother like this, so the girls and I are hanging out in the lobby. We've been watching iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place, playing new DS games, writing in notebooks, and reading. I've finished 2 books, and can't seem to master the newest level of Angry Birds. The girls have been uncharacteristically good,  spending hours in the plastic chairs of a waiting room.  We've been the only ones in the waiting room, as there are only 8 patients in the whole hospital.

Last night they played for a couple hours in the hotel pool, then did the same thing this morning. Lots of cannonballs, pencil dives, spinning moves, dancing dives, and much more.

This sounds very crass, but it's the truth--we are waiting for her to die. Could be today, could be 5 days from now. Only God knows.

Merry Christmas!

Hope it was fantastic!

All for a 10 minute light show

It was a simple plan-drive to South KC to see the Christmas lights at Christmas in the Park. Bobby wanted to be home by 8:00 to see the basketball game, so we left around 5:30 with a two extra children in tow. We thought we'd make it home by 7:30.

Traffic on 470 was insane.
Traffic to get into the park was insane.

We finally made it home about 9:00, after a 10 minute drive through the light show we'd waited over two hours to see. All in all, we'd spent 3 1/2 hours with 4 kids in the car, no snacks or toys to keep them busy.

Not the brightest move we've made.

Santa's stuck in the 50's

Since September, Macy has been staying after school once a week, sometimes twice a week, with Drama Club. It's only open to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, so this is the first time she's been able to. Several of her friends did it too, and they've had a really good time.

Tuesday night was their performance of "Santa's stuck in the 50's". She was Dancer the Reindeer (how appropriate).

Here's 1/2 of the kids, mainly the reindeer ones. Of course, Macy is on the top row. Would you expect any less? She's one of the tallest 3rd graders, I believe.

And here she is delivering her one line-"And I found a box full of Barbie dolls!" We've had that line memorized since she got the part. I'm so mad that my camera decided to focus on the woman in front of me's bald spot instead of Macy.

Here she is after the performance with the flowers we got her. See the poodle skirt? My mom made it. Along with 16 others to help the drama club teacher out. My mom rocks.

I'm so proud of her. She was nervous, and didn't hardly smile at all. She does that in church choir too, and is something we need to work on. We talked about it today, and she said she would try. She's just so shy that it's hard.

Macy, you're my favorite reindeer!!

Ahhhhhhh..... today. today is beautiful.

Finals are graded and in gradebook
Papers are graded and in gradebook
Newspapers were handed out

Christmas break starts today...almost 2 weeks off! It's times like this when I love being a teacher.

Pity party for me

Excuse me while I have a pity party for myself.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning, sicker than a dog. Finally made the call in to school about 5:45, thinking it would get better and it never did. Sometimes putting together lesson plans is harder than going to school, but my collegues helped me out and it was easy. Been sick all day, and it doesn't seem to be getting better.

But tonight was our Holiday party--one I was instrumental in planning, and have had a babysitter lined up for a month. I so wanted to be there. Instead, I'm in bed, sucking on Sonic ice b/c everything else comes up. (tmi, I know)

Thanks for my pity party.

The Nutcracker

Last night we dressed in our finest dresses and ventured downtown in the Arctic air for the Kansas City Ballet performance of the Nutcracker. Some of you may know I write free-lance for a local magazine, and they gave us 3 free tickets as a thank-you. Here are the girls bundled up outside the marquee to the Music Hall.

Inside, they posed for many a picture in front of the Christmas tree. Seriously, look how grown up and big they are! When did that happen?

My beautiful Macy. All the 3rd graders at her school went on Friday, so this was her second time. She was just as excited this time around, and kept telling me, "watch this! this part coming up is really cool!"

My beautiful Kaylin. She did wonderfully...she can have a very short attention span (Squirrel!) so I wasn't sure how she would do. She got a little bored in the 2nd Act and played with her watch, but overall she did so good.

This is a picture of a picture. Before the show the girls had their pictures taken with the flower dancers. They were excited because we rarely do things like that!

Our seats were superb--in the 6th row! The show was fabulous, and we had a great time.

9 things about Macy

For Macy's 9th birthday, here are 9 things I love about this girl...

1. Her kind and caring heart...she deeply cares about other people's feelings.
2. Her wacky sense of humor
3. Her voice is sooooo loud...most of the time that gets on my nerves, but it cracks me up too how loud she is
4. Her love for reading...she will lay in her bed at night and just read. Warms this English teacher's heart.
5. Her desire to be active and try new things...she's done t-ball, soccer, dance, basketball, cheerleading,  drama club, Girl Scouts,  guitar lessons, and wants to do volleyball next year.
6. Her love for any and all animals. She still says she wants to be a vet.
7. She looks just like me, my mother and my grandmother.
8. The way she wakes up talking a mile a minute. She's not a slow-waker-upper.
9. At night, when Bobby is at the fire station, if she can't sleep she'll come get in bed with me. I might be grading papers or reading, and she'll lay next to me talking a blue streak. Then she'll press her feet up against mine and go to sleep. One day she won't do that anymore, I treasure that while she likes to do this.

Happy birthday Macy Jewel!

Macy's 9th

Thursday night we had Macy's family birthday party.

Grandma and Grandpa got her a game she's been wanting, Hullabaloo. She was pretty excited, as you can see.

We did it--bought her an iPod for her birthday. Not a fancy touch screen yet; we're not that crazy. That will come with time. I really think she had NO idea. Here she is opening it.

 

And showing it to cousin Hannah.

She had a weird request for a cake--wanted a regular cake, and wanted to put suckers all over. Thus, a white cake, pink frosting, with Tootsie roll pops. Blowing out the candles...

The three cousins... Kaylin was really attached to Hannah for some reason, and it was annoying Hannah to no end.

And this is what happens when you ask them to make silly faces.

 Tonight we have 8 little girls spending the night. I am hiding in my room with the dog. I'm getting tired, but they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Setting goals

I'm thinking that by writing this down, in front of everyone, that it will force me to follow through with this.

Last summer, I had built my way up to running 4 miles, then some things happened and my running fell way off. Okay, my running stopped altogether. I am fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) to be in a Sunday School class full of runners who talk about it all the time and make you want to run as well. So one of those friends and I decided to do the following runs this next year.

5k on January 30: Groundhog Day Run 
This 5k is all underground, in the caves of KC.

10k on April 2: Rock the Parkway
This 10k winds around Ward Parkway.

 Half-marathon on June 4: Hospital Hill
This is the GrandDaddy of all races. 

Now, dear readers, hold me to this. Make me do it. For the sake of my genetically high blood pressure and (slightly) high cholesterol, make me do it.

What manners mean to me

What Manners Mean to Me
a poem by Kaylin

May I pleas play with you?
Always say thank you
No thank you
Never skreme at your perints
Excuse me
Remember to say thank you
Sorry Macy

I'm so sorry.

My husband pointed out last night that while I blogged every day in November, I haven't blogged any in December. He's right...something about making myself blog every day works better. I am going to be better in December!

Funny conversation we just had in the car-- the girls and I ran through the drive-thru at Burger King, and they gave Macy a cheeseburger instead of nuggets. I left them in the car (gasp!) and ran in to exchange it. I got back in the car and told them that the people apologized 50 times over the mistake. Macy asked, "Was it boy or a girl?" I said girl. She replied with a straight face, "Of course it was. Boys never say they are sorry."

So true, my sweetheart. So true.

Then Kaylin piped in with, "Yeah, and boys can't hit girls either!" Where did that come from???