Christmas 2010

Another holiday has come and gone, and with it, came all the magic and fun and excitement that should be for a six and four year old.

Festive events included: Making a gingerbread house with Lucy at her school party, going to the Lakeside school concert, Tommy having TWO preschool holiday parties, an annual trip to Meijer Gardens to see the Christmas Trees, Christmas Eve mass, lots of laziness and relaxing time with family and friends and, of course...the arrival of SANTA!

We threw reindeer food in the driveway, we read Polar Express, the kids made special cookies with Meema and Boppa, we tracked Santa on TV, we received special emails personalized to the kids. We ate hot appetizers and drank wine and laughed with Meem, Bop and EE. We. were. ready.

The bells rang outside at 8:15 p.m.. on Christmas Eve. Lucy and Tommy heard it and ran like the wind straight upstairs to brush their teeth, with sheer panic in their eyes. "We have to go to bed!! Tell everyone to leave so Santa comes!!!" A-dorable.

But the best item of all? A card, left just for Santa from Lucy. She asked him for something very special (a surprise, and not a gift at all!) = one of his bells. The next morning, while opening stockings, she looked over and saw that THE BELL was actually sitting there. An old, metal, REAL bell! Her eyes welled up with tears and she told me what she had done. She was shocked and 100%, with all her heart, believed that Santa left that bell just for her. It was the best moment of Christmas and a priceless one that we will remember forever. Now, that magic bell is hanging on our Christmas Tree and will be placed somewhere special every year so that we always remember the magic of the Christmas season.

It was just The Best.

Time to...ugh....Get Ready...

Oh how hard life can be as a six year old little girl. Who are we kidding? Oh how hard life can be for a mom of a six year old girl. Painful at times....

Lucy, you are growing rapidly...up two sizes in less than a year! Everything from summer (and even this fall!) is too tight and are floods. Therefore, I can barely keep up with you and your clothes. I feel like I am constantly shopping. I feel bad for you, as you aren't really sure what you even want to wear these days, what you like or don't like, what feels good or not, and you are getting more and more self-conscious about yourself. You suddenly want everything baggy and "stylish" and "sparkly."

"I don't want to look cute, mom," you will say to me. Apparently "cute" is defined by a nice pair of jeans and a solid colored long sleeve t-shirt. "Boring," you say. Huh.

With this, comes LOTS of fun from 7:40 - 8:00 a.m. This has truly become the new "witching hour" for me. To be honest, these days I would rather pour salt water on a paper cut between my toes than head upstairs with you in the morning to "get ready." Most days, you end up in tears and I am doing deep breathing exercises in frustration over you refusing to wear what we set out (and agreed upon) the night before, or your unhappiness with your hair (too poofy, not poofy enough, a ponytail, no a headband, blah blah....), OR your decision to wear weather-inappropriate pants or shirts.

Today, for example, it was -12 degrees with the wind chill factored in. You. Wanted to wear grey exercise capri pants and an olive colored Old Navy sweatshirt (hand me down from a male neighbor at a garage sale).
Neat.

So I breathe and you breathe and somehow we compromise. You got your leggings and your hair in some odd ponytail thing. I got a normal sweatshirt and a longer t-shirt that made the leggings look, um...a little more appropriate.

We got to school with (literally) two minutes to spare.

If this is what you are like at six years old...what in the WORLD will we be dealing with when you are thirteen?

As we go through all of this, I am once again reminded that I am a MOM. A real mom who is already power struggling on a typical issue with her daughter. Except that it's not just any mom and daughter.

It's me as mom. I was just fighting with my mom about trying to sneak out the door to high school with her sweater on. (Side note: WHY I ever wanted to wear my own mother's clothes is beyond me. I dressed like I was 45 years old as a senior in high school. Gantos, anyone? County Seat? No sense....)

And it's Lucy as the daughter. But wait - she was just born! She used to let me dress her like a doll every day! Oh those clothes when she was 18 months old...is there anything CUTER on a little girl than those clothes labelled 18 months - 2T????

And WHY, once your child graduates to a size 7, do all the girl's clothes at every store suddenly become BUTT ugly, unflattering and FULL of strange designs and accessories? But I digress....

Now it's the two of us having a typical mother/daughter argument over a typical issue and I am saying things like, "You have two minutes to get dressed and get downstairs." or the old classic, "Mrs. Battle will call and tell me I am not a good mom if I let you go to school dressed in summertime clothes!"

And by "old classic," I mean, "totally absurd comment."

In the end, we always make sure and leave each other with a smile at 8:15 a.m. She still gives me a hug and a kiss in the first grade line. She'll still yell, "Love you mom! Love you Tommy! See you after!"
And really...it's pretty much all that matters.

As long as she doesn't tell people I am her mother while wearing that absurd shirt with glitter falling off of it onto the classroom floor. Ugh....
:)

When You Wish Upon a Star...

Meema and Boppa took EE and I to Disney World when we were eight and four years old. I remember the Fort Wilderness boat launch, walking through the park, and eating at a restaurant. The rest becomes a blur of later Disney trips and I can't quite decipher what came before or after.

I know you won't remember this whole trip. But I think it's safe to say our family certainly will. While it's fresh in my brain, I wanted you to know...

1. Tommy found a star in the sky on the first night and would point it out to Meema each night of our trip. It really did shine bright every night and you could not miss it.

2. How GOOD you guys were. Seriously, we ran you ragged and you never complained about waiting, crowds, late nights or our 100th bus ride. You got along well and didn't ask for too much. I could tell you knew (especially Luce) how LUCKY you were to be there.

3. Lucy dancing with Mickey and Minnie at the Backyard BBQ - and making a friend on the dance floor. You were so brave and happy.

4. Both of you, telling me on separate occasions that this very day is "the best day in the world!"

5. Lucy telling me, while waiting for the Fantasmic show and mowing on REAL Pizza Planet pizza, "I am in HEAVEN!" You were so genuine and happy and couldn't help yourself!

6. All the giggles, laughs and special rides with E.E., Meema and Boppa. You always chose who you were going to ride with and you both tried to be real fair (even though we didn't really mind). :)

7. How happy you were to be swimming outside on our last full day. We were so happy we had time to make it happen for you. You did the big pool for a while, but were happiest at the kiddie splash pad and slide, and would go down the slide together holding hands.

8. Random moments with you both where I could barely stand not to hug and kiss you to death, while standing in the middle of wherever we were.

We are so, so lucky....