If Lucy was on Facebook ...

she would have totally unfriended me and about a billion other people today.  Must suck to be so dependant on the mom you just unfriended.  It's cool tho' she totally put in a friend request right before bedtime.  I rocked my lil' friend to the sweet sounds of Cowboy Junkies.  Perfect ending to an almost perfect day (aside from the unfriending). 

quotes from a bus ride

 Today we decided on adventuring on the #21 bus from Chicago Avenue until the end of 21A.  In frantic anticipation Lucy thoughtfully applied quite a bit of eye make up (thank you Risa :)).   We waited patiently at the bus stop by our house. 

 Ironically our end point was quite similar to where we accidentally ended up last night (thank you for real Risa for getting us out of that one).  So we decided to head to where was partied last night for a little snack/drink/bathroom break.  Of course no break is complete with out some posing and dancing. 

 Anyways ...  although these photos are not actually of us on the bus I thought I would bless you with some fun tidbits of conversation that Lucy had with EVERY LIVING (and almost living) SOUL on the bus.  Oh it was fun.  Y'all probably don't know how shy I really am.  Ha ha, I have the most anti-shy child in the world, good one. 

 We started out singing the name game song about every single person we know.  Moma, moma bo bama banana fana fo fama fi...  yup that loudly sung song came to a grinding halt when Lucy decided to sing about our pal Lucky.  Yup.   But frankly, at that point we were still on the #5, and anyone that knows 'bout the #5 knows that the #5 folks have likely just finished saying something similar.   

So here are a few more treasures:
"Hey, hey! Um sir, your pants are falling off"  (and her mommy was putting her hood up and sinking slowly down)

‎"Mom is that a cop or a lifeguard?"  (it was a cop)

"Mom, tyler (my cousin)  hates cops right? They put him in jail"  (cue loud snorts from Phil behind us, and yeah, I knew almost everyones name on the bus)

A big shout out to our new friends Charlie and Lisa.  Glad that Lucy could help Lisa learn Charlie's name.  Hope you two enjoy that 12 pack.  Thanks a lot new friend Charlie for forever cementing in lucy's head that the back of the bus is far more cool then the front. 

and Will (our other new friend).  Lucy didn't accept your explaination for the tear drop tattoo and the shaved eyebrow, but I appreciate your ability to censor. 

and to Senora Eva,  thanks for the herbalife protein bar and the invitation to come practice spanish, and your phone number.  

we'll be driving to lowertown next time!

Soooooo what's been going good?

Y'all know about our kindergarten woes.  Oh woe is me right?   Hoping we start having more and more good news on that front very soon.

That aside.  Let me tell you all about all the super positive things happening in our little family:

1. My New Year's resolution to quit catering to miss picky eater has paid off in a big way.  Dinners are much healthier, much more home made and much more tranquil these days (unless grandpa is at the table ...).   We have been enjoying tons of healthy, cheap, and easy to prepare in advance soups.  Soup has saved our budget and our sanity.  Turkey has also helped.  Turkey for a few days.  Then a break, then several days of turkey soup.  Split peas are another.  We love us some split pea soup, especially some injera to dip in it.

2. Mornings.  We have a general game plan.  Aside from some needed nagging from me so Lucy eats breakfast, mornings go well. 

3. Kuk Sool - Lucy's martial arts class.  Seriously hands down, the BEST best thing I could have done for Lucy was getting her enrolled and sticking to our Friday night classes.  She had a very difficult first 9 months in this class.  I cringed a lot.  Her instructors stuck with her, with firm, consistent expectations.  Her friendly, cute personality was not going to get her through this class.  Lucy is currently a model student.  She is amazingly focused, disciplined and driven in this class.  She rarely needs any sort of redirection.  I smile for 45 minutes straight.  She works hard.  It's a challenge for her but she accomplishes it.  LOVE THIS CLASS.  Leave a comment if you want the low down, have a kid 4 or older and live in the Twin Cities.

4. Grocery shopping- i try to avoid doing it with Lucy in tow but when it must be done it no longer needs to be followed up with beer for mom and therapy for Lucy. 

5. Getting  in  and out of the car -  this used to send me into major mom meltdown.  The putzing, the foot dragging, the hopping to the other seat, the scavenging for anything on the floor ... it's all stopped (mostly).  Some mornings I drive off to work with Lucy in the back and I think ... holy crap.  We just got through this morning with no issues at all.  Talk about improvement!!!

so yup.  Life is good.  It's so much easier to parent Lucy now.  We can do things like hang out at art crawls, and listen to bands in a coffee shop until 8:30 at night and I feel pretty assured I wont suffer for it in the morning.  Loving mommyhood. 

make up

Spent $3.00 on some cheap eye make up and lipstick.  So far have bought myself 1 1/2 hours of 'quiet' time.  I think it was a good deal.

obviously she gets her divine make-up application skills from me.  that's totally nurture right there.  

Lucita bonita

This girl takes my breath away every single day.  Serious beauty and it's not just the beauty

that you all see here in these photos.  She has it inside too.  She has a way of seeing people and the world that is beautiful.  She has a power about her that's overwhelming. 

She should really be running some sort of office or business or maybe the world.

I really hope that she channels all of this power for good.

If she channels it for evil.  Watch out.

Cuz it's STRONG!

NaBloPoMo Day 1

Seriously almost petered out before I even started.  I am tired. Real tired.  Feel like life is in full full force these days.  The mornings are so rushed, getting out the door.  Lucy comes to work with me for about 1 1/2 hours every morning.  I think having her with me, in an environment where she feels in control for a bit helps her relax a little more the rest of the day in kindergarten.  Every morning when it's time for us to catch the bus we take two toddlers from my class with us.  Lucy loves this and the toddlers do too.  

Post school is about unwinding, homework, getting dinner together, running unavoidable errands and playing.  Evenings go way too fast in someways but at times that wait for bedtime can be painfully slow. 

Once Lucy goes down, it's so easy for me to just completely get absorbed in the computer, or reading and relaxing.  I resent all the "other work" that needs done.  Cleaning, dishes, laundry, bills, cooking future meals ... hate it.  Resent that each time the dishes get cleaned there are more just waiting to get dirty, resent the same about laundry, and animal fur, and animal waste, and dust ....   so there, first day of NaBloPoMo=RANT!  I feel better now, and aint that what it's all about?

In other news: 

 Lucy still loves worms.  A lot.  Here's a worm that she pushed on the swing, gave a wagon ride, and eventually returned, relatively unscathed to his family.

Happy Halloween

yaaaaawwwwnnnnn

 since I've decided to participate in NaBloPoMo in November, which means a blog post a day the whole month (lucky you!), I don't feel too bad about my lack of words here.

I was lazy, didn't want to carve pumpkins, but still wanted the seeds to roast so we painted them.  Now the squirrels are busy enjoying the fruits of our labors.

 of course, my sensory seeking, dirt loving daughter LOVES scooping the goop out of pumpkins. Kept her busy a long time.

 This week we celebrated Zep, the perfect dog's 2nd birthday!

 he got a peanut butter coated ice cream cake and a big ol'bone for his birthday.

and of course Lucy sang Happy Birthday with great gusto.

5 years

Five years later ... and still loving every single ounce of this girl.

Sweet Sunny Saturday

 We recently discovered Gale Woods Farm.  Fantastic fun.  This morning we went to Saturday Morning at the Farm.  A great hands on but not overly overled family farming event.

 the kids were able to get up close and personal with many farm animals.  This was no petting zoo, this is a farm.  The kids LOVED having the freedom to hang with the animals.

 Jacob was the sheep whisperer.  He is a real friend to the animals.

 Lucy got them a little wound up.

 but she bossed them back into their places

 if it clucks like a chicken and walks like a chicken it must be a ...

 again with the animal whisperer

 Lucy loves LOVES LOVES the danger of running on top of the hay bale maze. 

 these two have a lot of fun together

Kindergarten, Bullies, Fever and Fun

Why is it that the more time I spend parenting the less I actually feel like I know how to parent?   Let me present a dilemma:  tattling.  Lucy spends a lot of time defending her actions in kindergarten (she's having loads of troubles staying out of trouble at kindergarten) by telling me and everyone else how mean the other kids are to her.  "Mom, he is always being so mean to me,  Mooooommmmm she keeps giving me mean looks all the time.  Mooooooooommmmmmmm  he bumped me first, on PURPOSE"   I have spent enough time in her class room to note that this tattling is also directed at her poor teacher, and it's not just Lucy it's quite a few of the kids, girls in particular.   

Soooo the dilemma is this:  With all the talk about bullying going around lately, and the advice about listening to your kids and having an open line of communication etc it feels like I should be open and empathic when Lucy starts bitching  tattling on her peers  BUT I also feel like wanting to encourage her to not spend so much time tattling, telling, worrying about the actions of others and spend more worrying about her own self. 

What do I do? 

In other news,  Lucy has been down with a fever and some pretty nasty mouth sores for 3 days now.  Poor little baby.  She's a real trooper though, drinking when I ask her to and taking necessary medicine.  Sadly the fevers do not seem to impact her energy level much.   I know I'd be worried sicker if she was lethargic but I'd just like to see that once ... 

In other other news.  Seems as if the woes in kindergarten have caused us to shift things at home a bit.  We are doing lots of  "attachment style" work, just to help with some regulation and it's amazing how much more fun and enjoyable our evenings and weekends have become.   Seriously, LOVE her so much ... gaaawwwwhhh.

Fire and Knifes

yes I had lots of young kids over at my house for a cook out.

 and of course we needed some kindling

 so obviously I gave all 5 of them knives so they could chop the wood

because we needed more fuel for desert.  

Love weekends