Winter weekend

It sure is cold! And I'm getting tired of cold. I need at least 60 degrees and soon.
Over the weekend we traveled to even colder Boone, NC:) We stayed with Phil's cousin Michael, his wife Mary and their daughter Grace. They're our favorite of his family to hang out with!! I know I probably mentioned them before when we went to Tweetsie and they are at the lake when we go. But we hadn't gotten to see them in a while. The girls and Grace played so well together. It was great! Phil and Michael watched sports and tv and did man things and Mary and I talked for hours. The girls all slept in the same room together which resulted in about a 10:30pm bedtime Friday night! But Sat. night was much better. Saturday we took the girls bowling and what a great idea! They loved it. Mollie really had a hard time controlling her excitement. I wish I had every moment of it on video. She kept smiling and squealing and running around and hugging everyone. She was so happy and proud for everyone who knocked a pin down. And by the end she could hold her own 7 lb. ball and push it down the lane. We definitely need to take them again soon.
Sunday we woke up to snow! Sydney went out in the back sunroom (totally windows) and saw 2 big deer right outside. She said they stared at her then ran away.
They are really special people and I wish we were able to see them more!

new rooms!

The girls have been enjoying their new bedroom and playroom (formerly their bedroom). Last weekend they spent the night with my parents on Friday night. We went out to Tony's Oyster Bar for dinner then got to work! We got everything set up for the most part, and did a few finishing touches on Sat. morning. Mom and Dad brought them back around 11am and they were so excited! Mollie said it was awesome! I took a little video, I'll post that later. But here is a quick run down of some pics I took once they got settled and we hung some things on the wall:

This is the playroom closet, perfect for storage and dress up:

The baby corner, haha:

The bedroom: Sydney sleeps on the top, Mollie on the bottom. Mollie is pretty efficient at climbing though and we now let her do it without having her call us to watch her (because she was doing it anyway...)

The dresser... think we need some more bows?

The reading corner. We do bedtime stories here and it's so cute.

Mollie's bed

Sydney's bed

cute

This morning I got up and met my friend Daniele at the gym at 6am! Ugh! I lived.
Anyway, I got home right at 7 and there were no lights on. I heard these little voices say, "Mommy, come up here!" and whispering. I guess they heard the garage door open when I came home.
I went upstairs and Mollie was up on the top bunk in Sydney's bed with her My Little Pony baby and Sydney had her Barbie. The toys were talking to each other and they were working on this big elaborate story. All they really wanted me for was to turn the lamp on:) But they were being so sweet together.
Now I'm really sleepy....LOL

sad things

I haven't updated since last week because every time I sit down to write about the girls' new room or anything else it seems just trivial. I can't get the family and friends of Kristi Walker out of my mind. Tonight a celebration of her life was held and I can't imagine her family saying goodbye to her. 30 years old, 3 young boys. I have friends who knew her. I have been praying a lot for her family. Anyway, it's really upsetting to have the wake up call that something like this can happen. And her family has an awesome outlook on the situation with such strength that I can not imagine. She is now with the person she loved most...God.

My neighbor Michele's coworker lost his wife in the Fall to cancer. They have 2 young boys.
Some of you know this, but my college roommate's husband passed away in August of 2003. They had not been married quite 2 years. I was the matron of honor in their wedding. They had a 10 week old baby. She came home from work to find him dead on their bedroom floor from a brain aneurysm. The baby was strapped into his car seat. They had just returned from Target. Imagine what could have happened. I can not even imagine myself or Phil not being here to watch my kids grow up.
I never have understood why things like this happen, but it has to make you realize that their HAS to be a plan that we don't know about. We are not in control...as much as we would like to think we are;)

paint

The room is painted that the girls will be moving into! Here is a picture of the color. Phil hadn't done the ceiling trim at the time, but it's so pretty! He finished last night and this morning it looked great when the sun was coming in the room!

This is a link to the new bedding, hopefully it will work:
http://www5.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6E.aspx?DeptID=59474&CatID=60555&GrpTyp=ENS&ItemID=1426309&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CMID=59474%7c59489&Fltr=&Srt=&QL=F&IND=1&CmCatId=594745948960555
I'm pretty excited:)

school things

I registerd Sydney for Kindergarten last Thursday. Us Moms thought it was a huge deal even though it was nothing more than filling out a bunch of paperwork:) We treated us all to lunch and play time at Chickfila. That night I went to the open house at the Year Round school we can apply to. I loved it. I actually loved the base school I registered her at as well. So I feel like no matter where she goes she'll get a good education. (duh) But I still do want the YR schedule. Just like Phil said, "we're not farmers, we can barely keep the plants we have alive, much less plant new one". There is no reason to have them home all summer long!
Did I mention that Mollie was wait listed for the 3 day 3's class? Now, before we approached preschool/school age I swore I would be the most laid back mom about school. Just put me where you want to I'd say. Any school, any YR track, any days in preschool. It doesn't matter, they'll learn from me also. They don't need to be at school all the time. HAHAHAHA
I'm so *that* mom now. The one that thinks that Mollie is so mature and after 2 years of MMO 2 mornings a week she needs 3. And I honestly do:) She is one of the older ones. Granted, next year the cut off changes from Oct. 16 to Aug. 31 (thank God). But I really do think that she should get a spot in the 3 morning a week class over some kids who will barely be turning 3 when school starts. So Mollie is 10th on the waiting list out of 19 and there are only 12 kids in the class. There is one 3 day class and like 4 2 day classes. So Mollie will go Tu/Th. Unless I switch her to a different preschool which I'm half-heartedly considering. I'm just going to put her name on a waiting list at another preschool that we have tons of friends that go there and their kids will be MWF.

busy

This week is and has been insanely busy. Action packed. I feel like I should not sit down after the girls go to bed or I'll never get back up. But I have a lot to do around here. Thankfully Phil has been so accomodating (with no whining) and I can't tell you how much easier that makes it for me!!
Well, since Mollie got sick on Sunday she couldn't go to school on Monday. Sydney didn't have school b/c we had parent-teacher conferences. Soo...someone had to stay with Mollie while I went. I took her with me and she played with Matthew while Jennifer and I tag teamed child care for our conferences. We got home a little after 10 and then Phil went in to his office. We pretty much stayed home the rest of the day. Mollie was fine. I just needed to wait until she had been fever free and on antibiotics for 24 hours. So that night we ran to Target so I could order a cake for my cousin's baby shower this weekend and get a few things. Then we met Mom and Phil for dinner.
Tuesday I had to work to make up for Monday. I was going to take the girls to My Play Place, but Mollie would have had to miss dance. Not really a big deal. But Phil worked from home in the morning and took Mollie to dance at 11:30! I met them there as soon as I got done so he could go to work. And he never complained. Ahhh....thanks Honey:) We ran home, ate lunch, got Mollie out of her leotard and Sydney into her gymnastics clothes and went to gymnastics at 2! Came home, Mollie napped, I cleaned and organized some stuff.
Last night we had a dusting of snow. But Wake Co. called a 2 hr. delay last night. That made the preschool adjust their hours (at least they didn't cancel), but Mollie's hours were 10:45-12:45 and Sydney's were 11-1. Well, I was supposed to work! Phil had to leave town and couldn't wait to do drop off so I worked from like 11-12:30, haha. But I got all my kids in! Even though 4 of them were eating their lunch while I basically talked to them and read to them and tried to brainwash them over their corn dogs and burritos.
Mollie had a dr. appt. at 1:30 so I dropped her off at Matthew's house to play and rushed Mollie all the way over to Rex for her appt. We ended up at Jennifer's house until 5 then hit up Firehouse Subs for kids eat free. I can handle a $7 dinner for the 3 of us! We didn't get home until about 6:15pm after leaving at 10:30am.

Wanna hear about tomorrow?
Dentist appt. for both girls in the morning, K registration, lunch out with Babysteps friends while we all help watch each other's kids so we can do the Kindergarten registration, open house at Laurel Park Elem (the year round school I'm applying for) from 6-7:30 and picking my aunt up at the airport at 10:10pm. Phil will be out of town. Thank GOD for my babysitter Krystina who is starting to feel like my nanny:) I am not working Friday so at least she'll be able to make some money from me this week!

My aunt from CO will be here until Monday and Saturday we have a baby shower we are giving for my cousin Laura and what I'm calling a mini-family reunion. It will be a fun weekend!