Happy New Year

I did not make it to the Weight Watchers meeting on Dec. 28 as planned. There was too much to do and too many folks to visit. That's fine, I feel focused and on track. I am working hard to make wise choices regarding food. I will attend my regular meeting on Jan. 4. I will have to go early for my weigh-in because there is always a huge surge of people signing up after the New Year.

Sidney is still taking his medication but he is doing much better. After the first time I administered the eye drops, he was much more calm about getting them in his eyes. He would even remind me sometimes that he need them. Cleo has a cold - her nose will not stop running. Her throat hurts too. She's a trooper. There's nothing we can give her except tender loving care.

We returned to Atlanta on Dec. 29, 2011. The drive felt long, we stopped two times. Once for shopping, food and a bathroom break, and another time for gas and a bathroom break. At the first stop, we went to the Carter's outlet store and got Sidney a super cute navy track suit jacket for $11.20. Awesome deal. We got Cleo a cute outfit at the Gap outlet store. We left around 12pm and we got home around 6:30pm. Traffic wasn't so bad - we hit some leaving out from Jacksonville and as we approached Atlanta.

Yesterday, I took the kids to daycare. Then, I went to the gym for the first time! I walked on the treadmill. Then, Roger and I went to see the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I thought it was great. It's rather graphic at times and there are a handful of images that will haunt you afterward. I read all three books in the trilogy and cannot wait for the 2nd and 3rd movies. Roger has not read the books and he thought the movie was okay. The acting was great and the casting was perfect. We picked the kids up early and took them home and we played games and hung out.

Yesterday, while the kids played, I made this really good bean salad. The ingredients were: can of black eyed peas, diced cucumber (one whole), 2 diced tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, Spike, and soy sauce. I ate the whole thing. Roger had a few bites and liked it. Today, I made it again but doubled the recipe. I ate a lot less tonight.

Today, we went to Discover Mills Mall in Lawrenceville, GA. It's around a 30 minute drive from our house. We went there to go to the Skechers store. Cleo grew out of her 10.5 size light up shoes. Skechers shoes run big because in all of her other shoes she's about to be a 11.5/12. We got her a pair of 11.5 and a 12 (she can wear the 11.5 now even though they're a little big and she can grow into the 12). The store is always buy one get the 2nd for 50%. I went to Kasper because I really need suits. I tried on 20 suits and none fit properly. The 2P jackets fit but the bottoms are too tight. The 4P bottoms fit but the jackets don't fit. Some of the 4P bottoms were tight, which was a little demoralizing. The separates were not great - very cheap quality. I am still hunting for a nice, plain black pantsuit.

We ate lunch at the mall. Cleo, Sidney and I had pizza from Sbarro's. Roger got food from Panda Express. Roger shared his lunch with the kids: fried rice (Cleo and Sidney, mostly Sidney), chicken (Sidney and Cleo, mostly Cleo), broccoli (Cleo and Sidney), and steak (Cleo). We got the kids chocolate cookies with white chocolate and milk chocolate chips from Subway. They ate the cookies in the car. Then, we headed home. Sidney fell asleep in the car. Cleo stayed awake.

Sidney and Cleo are moving to the next level classes when they return to daycare on Jan. 3. Sidney is being moved up despite not showing any interest in potty training. It's really nice of the school to let him move along with his classmates. He poops in the potty at home but he refuses to poop or pee in the potty at school. Cleo was the opposite - she was great at school but was slow at home. I know in time Sidney will be potty trained but for now he's moving along a lot slower than Cleo. I know that boys typically potty train later in age than girls.

I went to the gym during the kids' naps. I did 45 minutes on the treadmill. I will incorporate weights tomorrow during the kids' naps. After the gym, I got some things at Publix and Target.

When I got home, the kids were just getting up from their naps. I made mini bowtie pasta with alioli sauce. Roger made some BBQ chicken wings. Sidney tried a few beans from the black eyed pea salad. Cleo had one bite but neither were big fans. I am the only real legume lover in the family. We had some Birdseye Steamfresh vegetables also (edamame, baby carrots, water chestnuts, and broccoli). It's one of my favorite vegetable mixes. Cleo and Sidney like to add soy sauce and parmesan cheese to their pasta - just like me! It's cute.

Now, I have Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on in the background (it's on the Food Network) and I am about to eat a ruby red grapefruit. I am still a little hungry and they're 0 Points Plus and very filling.

Tomorrow, we are going to a 10:30am church service, then home for lunch and naps. Then, we go to Cleo's pals' Alexandria and Quintin's uncle's house for a 5pm New Year's Day party. Their uncle's name is Darryl Tookes. We have met him a number of times at Alexandria and Quintin's family's gatherings. He's very nice and went out of his way to be sure that we were invited. Cleo and Sidney play very nicely with Alexandria and Quintin. They are really sweet, smart, and gentle kids.

Have a wonderful New Year!

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcake and Sinus Infection

Linda and Robin threw a great holiday party last night at their house. We played Pokeno, which is sort of like bingo. A lot of people came over, which was fun. Connye's son won the big pot of money at the end. We play with coins so it's not like anyone loses or wins a ton of money. Connye is Linda's childhood friend. She came to Hilton Head in Oct. 2011 so Cleo and Sidney are very familiar with her and give her big hugs and kisses when they see her.

I had a lot of fun playing Pokeno. Roger didn't play, he watched the kids - there were 4 kids aged 5 and under - and he watched football. The girls are fine for the most part, it's really Sidney who needs to be watched. It was so nice of him to watch all of the kids while I played Pokeno. Some of you know how much I love to play card games. I also love bingo so Pokeno is a perfect mix.

This morning, I took Sidney to a nearby urgent care center (Solantic) because his eyes were red and crusty. He was diagnosed with a sinus infection - the mucus drains into his eyes and irritates them making it look like he has a pinkeye. I already knew exactly where Solantic was because on one prior trip, Sidney had an ear infection and I went there to get the diagnosis.

After Solantic, Sidney and I went to Target and got him amoxicillin and antibiotic eye drops. He's fine taking the amoxicillin because it tastes like bubble gum but he does not care for the eye drops. He cries and yells when we administer the medicine. We have to give him the eye drops (2 drops in each eye) four times a day for 5 days. Agh!! He takes the amoxicillin 2 times a day for 6 days.

Sidney is contagious right now, not sure when he stops being contagious because I forgot to ask the doctor. I will look it up on WebMD. So, we are trying to stop him from touching Cleo and Kaelin's toys. It's nearly an impossible effort. I got some antibacterial wipes at Target. We will use them a lot at Tiffany's house so Sidney doesn't infect all of Raven's toys.

Tonight, we are going to Tiffany's house. She is Roger's cousin. She is married to Deacon and they have 2 daughters, who I wrote about in an earlier post. Raven is 5, not 6 like I wrote before. Kayla is 13, not 12 like I wrote before.

Tomorrow I am going to a 9:30am Weight Watchers meeting. There is a Weight Watchers center a few miles from Linda's house. While in FL, I have tried to make wise choices. Carol, Linda's cousin, brought cupcakes to the party last night and I had half of a chocolate cupcake with chocolate peppermint frosting. I had the other half for lunch today. That is moderate for me because I could eat many cupcakes in one sitting. The other cupcakes did not interest me too much because they were too fancy, e.g., bananas foster and tiramisu. Normally, I like vanilla cake with chocolate frosting or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I branched out with the pepperminty frosting. It was nice and something I would like to try to replicate in the future but I would use vanilla cake to balance out the chocolate frosting a bit. The peppermint flavor was subtle and not overpowering.

Post Holiday Shopping Adventure

We had a nice time at Carolyn's house yesterday, Sunday, Dec. 25. Carolyn's daughter-in-law Regina made a fantastic 3 layer red velvet cake. I had two small slices of it and a very small slice of coconut cake. Linda made me some vegetarian collard greens which were really good too. Cleo ate roast beef, fruity Lifesavers, and salty pretzels dipped in white chocolate (Regina makes the pretzels & gave them out last year too - they're a nice combination of sweet and salty). When asked if she wanted to eat something, Cleo asked if they had steak or BBQ chicken on the bone. She was so specific. She settled for the roast beef. She isn't a baked sweets person; she really likes candy. Sidney ate some very moist tasty corn bread and key lime layer cake. Cleo enjoyed playing with Jajarra, Regina's grand-daughter. Jajarra turned 4 in January so she and Cleo are the same age. Sidney enjoyed playing with Anthony, Carolyn's great-grandson. He's 9 and is an excellent little dancer. Anthony re-enacted Justin Bieber's dance in the "Baby" video. Sidney was trying to do the dance too. Beyond cute.

Last night, we got home around 9pm. Cleo and I slept in the same bed last night and we watched the last half hour of Shrek 3 - it ended at 10pm at which time we went to bed. Sidney and Roger slept in the same bed last night and they went to bed around 9:40pm. Roger and I take turns putting the kids to bed. Cleo enjoyed the movie. I was nodding off because I was tired. Roger and I were up until 1am on Xmas eve acting as Santa's elves. Sidney was up by 7am on Xmas morning so I had less sleep than I was used to. Cleo and Sidney let us sleep until 8am this morning so I had a solid 10 hours of sleep! Amazing, I know.

This morning, Roger and I took Cleo and Sidney post-Xmas shopping. We got some lights for the house for next year - the bigger bulbs that were popular when Roger and I were kids. We also got some snow flakes on metal sticks to stick into the ground along the walkway leading to our house. We got a metal reindeer holding a sign saying something about Merry Xmas to stick into our lawn next year. We got a light up snowman and a light up santa holding a little wand with a gold star on the top. I was looking for a light up penguin and a light up Rudolph but didn't find them. We went to Target, Hobby Lobby and Walmart. A lot of the stuff was picked over but we were lucky to get some cute things. Everything was 50% off. For the most part the kids were well-behaved. It's always a challenge to shop with Sidney because he refuses to sit in the cart seat. He was better today than he is when we go food shopping in Atlanta.

Today, Linda is having family and friends over for a holiday gathering. The house is getting spruced up while Cleo and Sidney are napping. Cleo is very excited and all morning she kept commenting on how she needs to pick out an outfit for the "family feast." When they get up, we will give them lunch, then maybe take them to a little playground in Linda's complex, then a bath. It's around 70 degrees here today, maybe hotter, and very sunny.

Christmas in Jacksonville

We celebrated Christmas early on Dec. 22 when Cleo and Sidney got home from school. They were very excited about their toys, books and clothes. Sidney especially liked a few train toys and a motorized orange car. Cleo loved a personalized rag doll that we ordered from Walmart.com. It has a purple dress and "Cleo" embroidered on the bottom of the dress. They both loved their vtech Innotab touch kiddie iPad-like toys. We got them both pillow pets too - Percy for Sidney and Cinderella for Cleo.

We left on Dec. 23 at 7:30am for Jacksonville. We got to Jacksonville around 1:00pm. Linda and Robin are a little sick but still worked super hard to make the holiday special. Dec. 24 I took Linda shopping for her remaining gifts. We were out 8:30am to 4:15pm. It was fun and tiring. It was nice to spend the day with Linda. It's rare that we get to spend time alone together just me and her.

Christmas Eve Robin coordinated decorating gingerbread trains and Roger coordinated making cookies for Santa.

Cleo, Kaelin and Sidney had a great time together. Cleo eventually tires of the "little" kids and sits on the couch and plays her Innotab but then rejoins Sidney and Kaelin once she's spent enough time alone doing her own thing.

Rodney's (Roger's older brother) daughter, Kym, may come over one day this week. Cleo, Sidney and I have never met her. She's in her 20s.

Today, once the kids get up from their naps, we are going to Linda's friend Carolyn's house. It's where we go every Christmas Day. Carolyn always has lots of cakes. My particular favorites are the chocolate layer cake and the coconut layer cake. I take slices of both and eat them together. I have planned out what I will eat so that I stay within my Weight Watchers Points Plus daily allotment.

Tomorrow, Dec. 26, Linda and Robin are cooking and having people over. They do this so that we don't have to drive all over to see everyone. There are some people who will not be able to make it to the party and we will
go visit them at some point this week.

Dec. 27, Roger's cousin Tiffany is having all of us over for dinner. I really like her. She's in her 30s. She's married and has 2 great daughters who are 6, Raven, and 12, Kayla. Cleo plays really well with the two girls.

Dec. 28, Wednesday, I plan on attending a Weight Watchers meeting. There is one very close to Linda's house at 9:30am. Wednesday is my normal weigh-in day. I need the support right now.

I read a lot of Moneyball by Michael Lewis on the way down on my Kindle. I am really enjoying the book so far. I am also enjoying my Kindle. Michael Lewis also wrote the Blind Side - the movie that was made into a movie with Sandra Bullock. I will rent the Moneyball movie from the library when it comes out on DVD. I am already on the waiting list at the library for the Help (121st on the waiting list) and Bridesmaids (26th on the waiting list). I saw Bridesmaids but I want to see it again.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday.

Key's Kindle Fire

So I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. So far I am enjoying learning about it. I bought one book: Cleopatra: A Life. I am able to update my blog on the Kindle, which is great. Kindle tech support is bad. I find googling my issues and reading about users' solutions has been the best troubleshooting route.

More to come.

Cleo and Sidney are getting super excited about Christmas.

Big Boy Bed

Sidney's "big boy bed" arrived on Wednesday, December 14. Sidney was very excited, especially for the Cars 2 bedding. We have Thomas the Train sheets and need to get him a comforter. Cleo was very excited for Sidney's bed too.

Sidney actually sleeping in the bed was not received as well. Roger put him to bed Wednesday and Thursday night. It normally takes around 15 minutes to put Sidney to bed and now it takes 1 to 1.5 hours. Thursday morning at 3am Sidney woke up crying. I laid with him for an hour until he finally fell asleep. He slept through the night on Thursday and he was very proud of himself. I put him to bed last night and it took him an hour to go to sleep. Sidney woke up crying at 5:30am this morning and it took Roger half an hour to get Sidney to go back to sleep. Sidney doesn't get out of his bed, he just cries and cries until one of us go in his room to check on him. Roger put him down for a nap today and after a few minutes of lying with him, Sidney asked him to leave. So maybe Sidney is adjusting to the bed or maybe he was just super tired since his nap was super late today.

We took Cleo's side bed rails and put them on Sidney's bed. Cleo was excited to have them removed because it was evidence that she was a big girl and didn't need them anymore. She was concerned that her Tinker Bear could fall off the bed but I assured her that the bear would be okay. I knew the bear would be okay because every morning I find the bear safely ensconced in Cleo's arms. She keeps it too close to allow it to fall out of the bed. Tinker Bear is a Build A Bear brown teddy bear with a Tinkerbell outfit on it. Cleo just calls the bear "Bear." She won't name it.

Today we went to Cleo's classmate's, Paige's, 5th birthday at KangaZoom. It is a party center with lots of infatables for kids to jump on. Our kids love it but Cleo always ends up crying at some point because she bonks heads with one of her friend's head. This time, Cleo did not cry or get hurt. A lot of her good school pals were there so she had a lot of fun. Cleo also got her face painted with Hello Kitty's face on her right cheek. Cleo loves face painting, I think I mentioned that in a previous post. The party was 1:00-2:30pm - smack dab in the middle of their nap time. They were not too cranky. They napped when we got home - from 3:15-5:15pm.

I won a $100 Best Buy gift card in connection with a walking competition at work. I came in 3rd place. I thought I was going to come in 2nd place so I was a bit disappointed. If I came in 2nd, I was going to be able to get a Keurig single cup coffee maker. I told Cleo that if I won I would get the machine and she could make hot chocolate on it. The day the winners were announced she asked me if I won - she remembered on her own that the winners were going to be announced on Thursday, December 1. I told her I didn't win but came in 3rd place. She was very disappointed. Roger and I explained that it was okay that I didn't win this time and maybe I would win next time.

With the gift card I won I am going to get an e-reader. I suspect Best Buy sells one cup coffee makers but I would prefer an e-reader. After doing lots of research, I decided that the Nook is a better machine. But, I want to have Amazon as the materials provider, e.g., books. The Nook is linked only to Barnes & Noble and the Kindle is linked to Amazon. I tested out the machines at Target today during the kids' naps. I was leaning toward one of the basic ones (that cost $99) of either type of machine but after testing the Nook tablet and the Kindle Fire, there's no comparison - the tablet version of both machines is so much better than the $99 versions. So, I will treat myself to a $199 version and get a Kindle Fire tomorrow during the kids naps.

Tomorrow we are going to church, food shopping and then Cleo and Roger are making cookies for Santa. Santa is visiting the Wynn kids twice this year - he's coming Thursday while they're at school and then again on Dec. 24 when we are in Jacksonville, FL. The kids will open gifts when they come home from school on Dec. 22. We leave for FL the morning of Friday, Dec. 23. I have that day off from work and then the entire next week. I return to work on Tuesday, Jan. 3. I have jury duty on Jan. 4. I received the type of jury duty summons that requires me to call on Jan. 3 at 5pm to see if I need to actually go into court. I have had this type of jury summons before since living in Atlanta and I didn't have to report in person. I don't mind either way. Work is busy but jury duty will allow me time to get more familiar with my new Kindle Fire. :-)

I joined the L.A. Fitness gym on Thursday. I will start working out when we return from FL. I cannot wait. I am also going to restart doing my P90X dvds. I went to a Weight Watchers meeting on Weds., Dec. 14 and I lost .4 lbs. I have 3.4 lbs to go until I am back at the weight that allows me to attend meetings for free. Yahoo.

Have a good week.

Roger's Birthday and Kids R Kids Xmas Show

To all of my loyal followers: My company discontinued access at work to blogs so I can't update my blog during my lunch hour like I used to. Now, I need to use Roger's apple computer and I don't know how to upload pictures yet. I will have him show me so that soon, I can include pictures again in my blog updates.

Yesterday was Roger's birthday and it was also the Kids R Kids Annual Christmas Show. Kids R Kids is the name of the daycare that Cleo and Sidney attend. Cleo did the welcome and was fantastic. She performed in the ballet portion and also had a starring role in the pre-kindergarten classes' show, "Twas the Night Before Christmans." Cleo played the mother. She sat in a little rocking chair after she spoke her part. They put little glasses on her so she looked as motherly/grandmotherly as possible. Cleo looked so cute in her costume sitting in the rocking chair. Roger shot video and will post it when he can.

Sidney's class performed "Away in the Manger" and he was one of the the wise "men" along with two of his female classmates. The second the curtains parted all the way, Sidney started to cry. He stopped at one point and then started crying again. He couldn't explain why he was crying when I asked him later. He got to see Cleo's performance because she went after his class and one of his teachers brought out the kids from his class and handed them to the parents.

I ran into Sidney's best friend's (Taylor Donald) mom after the show was over. She said that Taylor Donald started crying when Sidney was crying. I hadn't noticed it. Taylor's mom asked her why she was crying and Taylor told her mom she was crying because "they made Sidney Wynn cry." There's a Sidney Dickinson and a Taylor Hartwell in Sidney's class so those 4 kids are always called by their first and last names.

Instead of the Elf on the Shelf as the spy for Santa, we have Rudolph. He disappears in the morning and reappears somewhere in the family room once the kids return from daycare. One morning this week, Rudolph was gone as usual. Sidney asked me where he went. I told him that he went to the North Pole to report to Santa. Sidney said no, that's not where he went. I asked him where he went and he said "shopping." I asked him what Rudolph was shopping for and Sidney said, "french fries."

When I was putting Sidney to bed one night this week, we were looking/reading a book about trains and Sidney said, "watch the closing doors." He hadn't ever commented before on the NYC subway announcers' directions to watch the doors. Another demonstration of Sidney's excellent retention skills.

My boss gave me a big tin full of Thomas the Train and Friends trains and a huge plastic bin of wooden train track. His 2 sons have outgrown the toys. The tin contained 2 Percy trains, Sidney did not have one that was compatible with his train set. The tin contained some duplicates of what Sidney already has and some trains that he didn't. Last night, Sidney played mostly with Iron Harry and the two Percy's. During our bedtime singing routine, Sidney and I have made up all sorts of variation of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." While Sidney was playing last night he sang one as follows, "Iron Harry been working on the railroad. Percy been working on the railroad. Good job Iron Harry. Good job Percy. Percy." He added the 2nd "Percy" because he had the two Percy trains lined up with Iron Harry. I thought that was hilarious.

This weekend (Sunday), we are shopping for Sidney's big boy bed. We are getting him a full size, brown sleigh bed. The problem is finding full size Thomas the Train bedding. I have only seen it on line and it's pricey. Hopefully we can find some Cars bedding in a store at a more affordable price. Sidney is older now than when we transitioned Cleo to her own bed. She was 2 years and 7 months old and Sidney is now 2 years and 10 months old. I know it's not a competition but he looks so big and long sleeping in his crib. I am sure he will miss his crib like Cleo did. When we showed her the new big girl bed in her room for the first time she said, "I lost my bed. I lost my bed!" We showed her that her crib was in Sidney's room and she seemed to accept that. I am sure the Dora bedding on her new bed helped the adjustment.

Cleo was so excited for her performance yesterday. All week she was rehearsing with the other classes and working on her welcome at home with us. She did it so often that Sidney committed it to memory. We have these two inflatable microphones from a birthday party gift bag. Sidney and Cleo would stand in the family room and recite Cleo's welcome together.

Yesterday, in the morning, I went to get Cleo up and gather her clothes for school. When she saw it was me in her room, she said, "no, I want Daddy to get me up because it's his special day!" So I got Roger to go to Cleo's room and I went to get Sidney up.

Prior to leaving for the Christmas Show, Cleo helped me with "birthday business." She signed her name to her card for Roger and Sidney's name to his card to Roger. She also wrote "Daddy" on the envelopes for her and Sidney's cards. She helped organize his gifts too and when we were done she asked what other birthday business there was to be done. She's the best.

I got Roger a little cake from Publix - chocolate cake with white buttercream. It was really good. We had cake when we got home from the Christmas show. Cleo was disappointed when she saw the cake and was all, "where's the birthday cake. Daddy needs a sports cake." She expected to see a sheet cake super decorated like the ones we get for her and Sidney - and every other kid has one at the birthday parties we attend. Then we gave him his cards and gifts.

Today we are taking the kids to a book sale at the Southwest Arts Center where Cleo takes her art class. Then, home for lunch and naps. Then to dinner for Roger. We aren't sure where we are going for dinner. Prior to dinner, we may take the kids to a Christmas lights show in the building where a Macy's used to be in downtown Atlanta. I will write more about it later if we go.

Have a good week.

Weekend Update

Cleo's welcome statement at the Dec. 9 Kids "R" Kids holiday show consists of the following: "Good evening parents, family and friends. Welcome to the Kids "R" Kids annual Christmas program. We thank you for coming and again Welcome!!"

She's committed it to memory and performs it with perfect drama and flair. Sidney has memorized it too and he's beyond cute reciting it.

When I was putting Cleo bed tonight she told me that since I was putting her to bed tonight, I was the parent who was supposed to pick her up in the morning and take her downstairs to breakfast. She said that tomorrow evening, Roger will put her to bed then the following morning he is supposed to pick her up in the morning and take her down to breakfast. She explained that that is an example of a pattern. I asked her how she knew that and she said that she just knew it. She's brilliant.

I took Cleo and Sidney inside Nicholas House to drop off the gifts and Sidney was perfectly behaved. I think his shyness precluded him from trying to wander off or making too much noise. Cleo is always well-behaved. Sidney tripped on a poorly-placed computer cord and his sneaker came off but that wasn't his fault. Cleo said, "oh little guy lost his shoe." She's so charmingly condescending to him.

Now I must go watch the Good Wife. It's one of the best shows on TV. I also like 2 Broke Girls, the New Girl, Up All Night and Grey's Anatomy. In case you were wondering what my favorite TV shows are right now.

Another update about me is that I rejoined Weight Watchers. I have gained 7 pounds since March 2011. I blame Cleo's birthday party. I ate at least 2 cupcakes that day - we had it at a cupcake shop in Marietta, GA. For some reason, cupcakes are my undoing and I was never able to regain my discipline after that. I simply indulged too much since March. Then, I hurt my knee in June by over-using it doing certan exercises. I haven't been able to get back into exercising as diligently as I was before I hurt my knee. I did physical therapy for 6 weeks this summer but my knee is not the same.

My clothes simply don't fit the same and I am tired of my jeans fitting too tightly. I can't buy a whole bunch of new clothes. So, I am getting back on track.

Back in Atlanta

It took me some time to adjust to being back at work after being away in NYC for the week. We had a great time and I miss my family a lot. It was so nice seeing all of them.

All week, Sidney has intermittently insisted on being called either Christian or Percy (as in Thomas the Train's pal). Christian is Cybele's fiance's name and he appears to have left an impression on Sidney. Christian was wrestling a little with Sidney on the day we left or the day before we left and Sidney really enjoyed it. I asked Sidney today if he wanted to call Christian. He said, "no, Gabriel." Then he added that he also wanted to call Christian. Then he started saying something about Uncle Howard, my uncle. Sidney is funny.

Cleo and Sidney had a good week at school. We learned that Cleo is delivering the welcome at their daycare's annual holiday program on Dec. 9 at 6pm. That is Roger's birthday so we are celebrating his birthday on Saturday, Dec. 10. Cleo also has a starring role as the mother in her class' contribution to the program. Sidney's class is singing "Away in a Manger."

Yesterday we went to my work friend Cindy's daughter Madison's 2nd birthday party. Cindy has 4 nieces who live next door and Cleo enjoyed playing with them - their ages ranged from 8-15. Sidney enjoyed playing with all of Madison's toys. He's an old 2 year-old since he turns 3 in 2 months so he seemed a lot older than Madison who turns 2 on Dec. 8.

We have completed most of the kids' xmas gifts shopping and must now start gathering gifts for Kaelin, our niece. We head to Jacksonville, FL on Dec. 23, I have off from work that day, and likely return on Dec. 29. We are taking the kids to the movies on Dec. 30. The options thus far are Happy Feet 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks Part 3 or Arthur (he's the nephew or son of Santa). Cleo wants to see the latter but we think the Alvin movie will be the only one that keeps Sidney's attention. It will be Sidney's first theater movie. The Princess and the Frog was Cleo's first theater movie. She doesn't remember seeing it in the theater - she was only 2-3/4 years-old but she does recall seeing Tangled last December.

Both Cleo and Sidney are acting so old these days. It breaks my heart but also makes me happy that they are becoming a little more independent.

The kids are napping. When they wake up, we are dropping off some gifts at Nicholas House, which is a transitional home for homeless families. It is in the same area of Atlanta in which Roger and I lived before we moved to Southwest Atlanta.

Have a good week!

Day 4 & Thanksgiving Day

Wednesday we had breakfast with Ahnya, Vivian and Gabriel at Cafe Luluc on Smith Street. It was great to see Vivian and Gabriel. Ahnya and Vivian went to Harlem to have lunch with Vivian's friend. Gabriel went back to the apartment he's housesitting. We went to Tick Tock Diner on W. 34th Street and 8th Avenue for lunch with Marcia. It was great to see Marcia. Then, we went to a huge store on 8th Avenue for souvenirs. We got Cleo and Sidney's teachers some pink coin purses that say I Love NY on them. Cleo picked out a little Statue of Liberty clock as her souvenir and Sidney selected a little black car which he is still playing with. We made our way back home. The kids slept a little on the subway so by the time we got back to my dad's they wouldn't nap.

Isak and Cybele came over so we got to see them for a short bit before we headed out again.

We had dinner with Rachel, Hunter and John at Rice, my favorite restaurant in NYC. Dinner was really nice and it was wonderful to catch up with Rachel and her family. After dinner, we walked to the Plaza Diner to say hi to Fran, her mom and their family. We got there in time for dessert and the kids got dessert with the other kids. Cleo got a Hello Kitty heart cookie and Sidney had some Italian dessert cookies. We were there for around an hour and got car service back to my dad's apt.

Thursday, Ahnya and I met Ruby, Isak, Rhudi and Shelly for Ahnya's Annual Tofurkey Trot in Prospect Park. We walked around the inside of the Park. We snagged medals from the Turkey Trot and Sidney has enjoyed wearing them around the house. He prefers to wear two so he clangs a bit when he walks. After the walk, Ahnya and I headed home.

We took naps. Cybele and Christian came over and we headed to the Westway Diner. We planned on meeting at 4pm but we got there at 4:30pm. We met my mom and Gabriel there. Dinner was really nice and much more affordable than Josie's. No one got a classic Thanksgiving dinner. Ahnya and I got veggie sandwiches (tomato, portabello mushroom, avocado, lettuce). My mom got salmon. Gabriel got Belgian waffles and eggs. Cybele had a veggie burger deluxe. Christian had a burger with waffle fries, pancakes and bacon. Roger got a pastrami sandwich. Cleo got french fries and broccoli. Sidney ate a roll and french fries. We got him chicken fingers but he didn't eat them. It wasn't too crowded when we got there but as it got closer to dinnertime, it got more crowded. We walked through Times Square to get to the A Train. The streets were crowded with people. Sidney and Cleo enjoyed the lights.

Today, we are relaxing a bit. A van is coming to pick us up at 3pm to head to Rye, NY for the Friday Thanksgiving dinner at Tom and Melinda's house.

Days 3 & 4 in NYC

Yesterday (Monday, Nov. 21) afternoon we went to Lulu Cake Boutique on 8th Avenue between W. 15th & 16th Streets in Manhattan. I got a chocolate twinkie and a red velvet twinkie. The red velvet twinkie was really good; the chocolate one was not. I think both would have been better if they hadn't been fresh from the very cold refrigerated case. Roger got a chocolate cupcake with white frosting, he said it was ok. Cleo got a heart shaped raspberry linzer cookie and she liked it. Sidney got a raspberry cream cupcake with lemon curd inside it. He enjoyed around 1/2 of it. This is the second time we have tried a restaurant or bakery featured on the Food Network or Cooking Channel and been less than impressed. The food always looks so delectable with it's featured on TV. The first one featured on a TV that we tried was Marietta Diner in Georgia. My dad wanted to try it during one visit to GA and we went. It was ok. Since my dad's visit, I go there fairly often because it's close to my job. It's good for large groups because it has such a diverse menu which caters to all tastes. I always get a steamed vegetable platter with yellow rice and this awesome teriyaki glaze on the side. I end up eating it all every time. I used to get the eggplant parm with linguine on the side but stopped when I started Weight Watchers.

Afterward, we went to Duane Read and we got Cleo some classic cherry Chapstick. We went home for naps.

We had dinner at La Villa pizzeria with Rebecca (Aaron Milestone's wife - Aaron couldn't make it because he had to work), Daniel, Stephanie, Ook and Aalea. It was fun and the food was good. Sidney loved saying, "Uncle Ook." Cleo sat next to Stephanie and was very happy showing Stephanie all of Cleo's jewelry and the contents of Cleo's purse.

Today (Tuesday, Nov. 22) we went to the Children's Museum of Manhattan a few blocks from my mom's apartment in Manhattan. My mom and Ahnya accompanied us. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. We were there from 11:30am to 2:00pm. We had lunch again at McDonald's because the diner we like was packed and we wanted to get the kids a quick lunch and head home. We got back to Brooklyn around 4pm and the kids would not nap. We got caught in the rain during our walk from the train station to my dad's apartment. We didn't have an organized dinner this evening. I am doing some laundry because the kids' socks and pajamas are all dirty. We are about to give the kids a bath.

Tomorrow is a jam-packed day because we have 9:30 am breakfast with Vivian, 11:30am lunch with Roger's aunt Marcia and dinner at 6pm at Rice in DUMBO with Rachel, her son Hunter and husband John. Gabriel comes to town this evening and he's housesitting in Park Slope. Cybele comes to town tomorrow but she's spending the night with college pals. We will see them Thursday.

Sidney and Cleo continue to enjoy taking the subway trains.

Day 2 in New York City

On Sunday, Roger, Cleo, Sidney and I met my mom at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square at 11:15am. We had to take a shuttle bus from Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue because the F Train is not running at certain stops in Brooklyn. Cleo and Sidney enjoyed it. The bus was packed; Sidney and Cleo sat on my lap; a nice man gave up his seat (in NYC who knew?). We caught the R Train from Downtown Brooklyn.

The kids department at Barnes & Noble has increased to a whole floor at Barnes & Noble. Cleo showed my mom and Roger all sorts of educational electronic toys and Sidney played at the Thomas the Train and Friends train table. Sidney was in heaven. He waited out the older 2-3 year-olds until he could collect the train cars he wanted - his eyes were on the freight cars so he used Skarloey (he's red) as the tank engine and took the tank cars from the other trains. There were a set of triplets who were young 2 year-olds, they looked so small compared to Sidney. The parents spoke Spanish, German and English to the kids - I am not sure if they lived in NYC. The dad was chatty and couldn't believe I knew the names of all the trains. Am I impressive or what?

After playing for 1.5 hours at Barnes & Noble, we headed to McDonald's for lunch. The one facing Union Square Park is so pretty and modern looking. The kids ate their Happy Meals. Then, we said our good-byes and headed to the train. Sidney keeps asking for Noma (what the kids call my mom). They really enjoyed seeing her. My mom crocheted these beautiful hats for the kids. Sidney put his on when we got home and would not take it off until he went to sleep. I will post pictures later. It was warm yesterday, in the 60s, so he didn't need to wear it when we were out and about.

We made the trek home and later walked along Church Avenue looking for a hat for Roger, we were not successful. Then, home to my dad's for a nap. We haven't been using a stroller for either kid but today when we go to Manhattan, we are going to bring one for Sidney. He likes to walk when we are out adventuring, but the distance from my dad's apt. to the train is a little far for him.

We had guests come at 6pm: Rhudi, Shelly, Fran, Matthew, Jack and Lily - who is 2 like Sidney. Rhudi and Shelly brought a pear torte and a pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Fran brought adult beverages. We had a great visit. My dad made tostadas and we ordered pizza. The kids played really nice together. Jack is 8 and Matthew is 7. They are such wonderful boys. Lily is so incredibly cute and her face is a perfect mix of Fran's and Cliff's. Everyone stayed until around 9pm.

This morning we are lazing about a bit then will maybe have breakfast with Roger's friend Ook and Aalea (his new wife). The one certain outing is heading to Manhattan to investigate the Lulu Cake Boutique. They make cake, cupcakes, snoballs and twinkies (a.k.a. "retro desserts"). We saw the bakery featured on one of the cooking channels on tv.

Day 1 in NYC

We arrived fine in NYC late last night. Our plane left Atlanta on time at 9:40pm and we arrived at LaGuardia Airport at midnight. The kids were fine on the flight. Sidney sat with me and Cleo sat with Roger one row up and on the other side of the plane. Sidney watched DVDs on his portable DVD player. He slept from 11pm to midnight. Cleo didn't sleep. She cried during descent because her ears hurt so bad. The kids earplanes and chewing gum did not help. I get bad ear pain upon descent too - today my ears are still popping.

Prior to boarding, Sidney enjoyed watching the planes and other activity on the airport tarmac. He loved the shuttle train that took us from the main terminal to our section of the airport. When the train was moving Sidney said, "wheeee." When we got off the train he said, "bye train."

After we grabbed our luggage, we piled into a yellow cab and made our way to my dad's apartment. Ahnya and my dad waited up for us and had made our beds. Cleo and Sidney slept with me and Roger slept on the couch. Ahnya slept on the futon. We went to bed around 1:30am.

Ahnya was up and out of the house around 6:40am for her Weight Watchers receptionist commitments. We got up around 8am and ate breakfast, relaxed, played, and watched the Cooking Channel. My dad got Cleo a princess fairy castle puzzle which she enjoyed assembling. My dad got Sidney a fire truck puzzle which he put together with Roger.

Sidney's nose has not stopped running and around 11:30am his temperature went up. He's had a cold all week and a fever that comes and goes. He and Cleo are napping right now. If Sidney feels hot when he gets up, I will give him some Children's liquid Advil. It tastes like bubble gum and is pink; I tasted it and it's really good and sweet. Sidney does not protest having to take it.

When the kids wake up, Ahnya and I are taking them to Church Street to shop for various items, e.g., pull-ups for Sidney, tissues, and a roast chicken and broccoli for dinner. I know they will enjoy the liveliness of the stores and people.

Thanksgiving Lunch Feast

Yesterday, Roger and I attended the Kids R Kids Thanksgiving Feast. The kids ate at staggered times: Sidney's lunch was at 11am and Cleo's was at 12:15pm. Roger and I sat with Sidney at a table in his class. Around half of the kids' parents attended. Sidney wolfed down his food - especially the stewed turkey in beef gravy. He would not eat the collard greens. He ate most of my slice of red velvet cake and half of his slice of chocolate bundt cake. He liked my cranberry sauce (from a can). I am curious if he will eat any of it when we have our own Thanksgiving in NYC next week. He's such a great eater at daycare and is on a perpetual hunger strike at dinnertime at home. Around 11:35am, the parents started leaving and Sidney's teachers started getting the kids ready for their naps. Sidney started to cry when he realized we were leaving but we left him in the loving arms of his favorite teacher, Ms. Weaver.

Roger and I headed over to Cleo's room and helped her teacher, Ms. Zora, prepare the tables for their Thanksgiving lunch. When we were done helping, Roger and I sat with Cleo and a few of her other pals. Around half of the kids' parents came to Cleo's class' lunch. I had two servings of mac & cheese, it was really good and home-made. It wasn't as good as Linda's, Roger's mom, but hers is the best ever so it's not really fair to try to compare anyone else's to hers. Linda's mac & cheese gets better with age so the days following her preparation of it I eat it for lunch and dinner when we are in Jacksonville for Christmas or other holidays, e.g., Easter.

We were with Cleo until 1:35pm then I headed back to work.

I am packing tonight for our trip to NYC tomorrow night. I have a meeting all day tomorrow outside of my office. Then, I head to the kids' daycare and meet Roger there because the kids' school pictures are in and we need to decide whether they came out nice enough to purchase. Then, we head home to do any final packing and head to the airport. Roger's friend Michael is coming to our house and he will drive us in our car to the airport - that way the kids can be safe and secure in their carseats and we don't have to park the car at one of those parking lots that charge $10 a day to park.

I am excited about the visit and to see everyone. I am also excited to see the kids' reaction to taking the subway, Sidney will be very happy.

This is a collaborative piece of art that Cleo and her classmates created. I love it. I am not biased at all.


I thought this drawing was sweet. Even though Cleo didn't say she was thankful for Sidney, she did include him in her drawing.

Cleo likes to use many different crayons or markers when she colors. She loves drawing and coloring in rainbows. She also appears to enjoy making rainbow turkeys.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday, Cleo and I went to her art class. She made a sea scene. With crayons, she drew waves on the paper and designs on some paper fish. Then, she painted the sea and the fish with super watery watercolor paint. It came out very nice because the crayons showed up in contrast to the watercolor. Sidney and Roger stayed home. Sidney went into time-out 3 times on Saturday; he was being very disobedient and would not listen to us.

Saturday, Cleo had a playdate with her pals Quintin and Alexandria from her class; they're twins. Roger and I made bowtie pasta salad (with broccoli, plum tomatoes, bell peppers), chicken breast (for the adults), tomato soup, and turkey burger sliders for the kids. For dessert, we had ice cream sundaes with all the fixins. The kids played really well together. Cleo and Alexandria had a field day taking all of Cleo's jewelry and princess/Tinkerbell accessories out of the various boxes and drawers that normally contain it, and examining it in her room. Sidney and Quintin didn't really play together because of the 2 year age difference but they both had a good time too. Roger and I enjoyed talking with Quintin and Leslie, the kids' parents, who we like a lot. We have had one previous playdate with them at their house.

Cleo was out of her body excited in anticipation of the playdate and it's all she talked about for ages leading up to yesterday. She wanted Alexandria to sleep over but Roger and I explained that she needed to wait until they were 6 or 7 years-old.

Today, we went to church then food shopping. We came home, ate lunch, and the kids napped. I did some work while the kids napped. After Cleo got up, we watched Barbie Princess Charm School which we DVR'd during Cleo's nap. We have the abridged version of the story in a book but this was a 1.5 hour long movie on Nickelodeon. It wasn't bad. We got her a Barbie book compilation and some of the stories are really strange. It's like the stories are poorly translated from another language.

We leave for NY on Friday, Nov. 18 on a 9:40pm flight. We return to Atlanta on Sat., Nov. 26. I can't believe how soon Thanksgiving is. I cannot wait to see everyone and for my family to see how much Cleo and Sidney have grown and changed since we have been there. The last time we were in NY was Thanksgiving 2010.

Have a good week.

The poster is something Roger and I did for one of Sidney's homework assignments. I love that picture of him. We wrote that Sidney is, "Known for being extremely charming and able to count to 15." He's currently learning to count to 20 and this week his class has started to learn to write their letters. His homework for tonight is to trace lowercase and uppercase Js. So not a baby anymore.


In late October, Cleo planted some orange seeds. To Cleo's and my delight the seeds recently sprouted!

This picture is evidence of Sidney's adoration of Baby Jaguar and his continuing love of Elephant. Cleo named her doll, "Strawberry Shortcake." My three sweeties.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday morning, Roger and Cleo went to her art class. Sidney and I went to the post office to mail Vivian's birthday cards and gift card. Vivian is my best friend and Cleo's godmother. Then, Sidney and I went to the library to find new train books but we did not find any. He has around 4 at home from the library and one my dad got him. I am not counting the 8 Thomas the Train books he has. He likes the realistic train books now. There are some simple puzzles that Sidney likes to do there - the babyish wooden ones. Sidney can put together a 24 piece puzzle by himself but he still likes to do the simple ones.

After the library, Sidney and I picked Cleo and Roger up from the Southwest Arts Center. We made our way home and I got ready for my friend Lillian's birthday tea at the Roswell Tea House in Roswell, GA. It was around a 50 minute drive from our house. Lillian's real birthday is Nov. 16. It was a really nice event and gathering of interesting women. Most were married with young kids, some worked full time and others were stay at home moms. It was from 1-4pm. Afterwards, I went home and played with the kids.

Sunday, we went to church and food shopping. Then, I got my hair dyed and blown out. It looks nice. I got home around 3:30pm and Roger and I played with the kids. We made dinner - sauteed zucchini and squash, roasted cut up potatoes, pork chops, "fried" green tomatoes (I baked them instead of frying them), and ratatouille. The kids and Roger did not eat the tomatoes or ratatouille. Cleo and Sidney both gamely tried the tomatoes but did not care for them.

Sunday evening, we watched some of Beauty and the Beast and the beginning of Aladdin. Cleo and Sidney both enjoyed the movies. Right before the kids went to bed, Sidney noticed Cleo's little stuffed jaguar and Sidney asked for it by calling it "Baby Jaguar" (Diego's little pal on his show is named "Baby Jaguar"). Cleo said "no, it's mine." Sidney and I went to his room. When we were walking to Sidney's room, I could hear Roger reasoning with Cleo that she never plays with it. A few seconds after I closed Sidney's door, I heard Cleo's little feet and the door opening and she handed Baby Jaguar to Sidney, who was very happy. He brought the stuffed animal downstairs this morning and was pretending it was hopping along our ottoman.

Sidney's potty training continues to progress. When he's home, most of the time he alerts us that he has to go potty. He is so proud of himself when he uses the potty. We, including Cleo, are very proud of him too.

Cleo has gotten so thorough and good at brushing her teeth that we let her do it all by herself. Meaning, we don't let her brush her teeth then follow-up with our brushing areas we think she may have missed. She doesn't miss any areas anymore. I told her she's such a big girl and does such a great job that she can do it by herself. She loves being trusted to handle the task by herself.

Every time I see a commercial for Breaking Dawn, I get more intrigued. I may have to sneak out during the kids' naps on Nov. 27 and see it at a matinee showing. We will be in NYC Nov. 18-26, so I can't see the movie on the opening weekend. I haven't seen any of the Twilight movies in the theater.

When I picked up the kids from daycare on Friday, Sidney's main teacher, Ms. Long, told me that she recalled Cleo being a calm, relatively quiet little girl when she was in Ms. Long's class. Ms. Long informed me that Sidney is the opposite. Apparently, he makes his presence known at all times. So, this weekend, Roger and I continuously reminded Sidney to please be more quiet when he's in class and just listen to his teachers. I think Ms. Long is too nice to tell us that Sidney is disruptive and talks too much, but Roger and I suspect that her comments were code that Sidney is a little noisy. I think Sidney is so excited to be able to express himself and has so many thoughts, ideas and observations, he just feels compelled to share. But he still has to learn to listen and I appreciate his teachers' need to have the kids be quiet.

Have a good week!

Halloween was fantastic this year. Cleo and Sidney ate candy from 2:30pm (when their class parties started) to when they went to bed at 9pm. We had tons of trick or treaters and had a nice time trick or treating right before we went home to hand out our own candy. The kids loved having my dad here. Cleo and Sidney agree he can't go as an elf next year - he's dressed as one for 3 years in a row.

Work has been busy so I have not been able to update the blog in a week or so. Sorry to deprive my devoted readers of an update on our super exciting lives. Well, brace yourself, we have exciting news: Sidney has pooped twice on the potty. The first time was on Friday after dinner. The second time was this evening after dinner. He also peed in the potty tonight, right after he pooped. He is beyond proud of himself and yells out to Cleo that he needs a sticker. She's the self-appointed sticker distributor. We are very proud of him.

Yesterday, we went to the kids' daycare's Harvest Festival. There were cupcakes for sale for $1, I tried a chocolate one with chocolate ganache and marshmallow frosting, it was tasty. There was a ring toss stand, a bounce house, throw the ball through the pumpkin mouth stand, and all kinds of other fun. Sidney's pumpkin won Prettiest Pumpkin in the pumpkin decorating contest. Roger constructed a Percy Train using a box and construction paper - check out pics at http://www.cjwynn.shutterfly.com/. Sidney won a knock-off Transformers toy and a gift card to Jason's Deli - a deli chain here in the Atlanta area (and maybe wider). Sidney was not that keen on winning; he would not stand near his pumpkin for a picture. He seemed interested in the Transformers toy. Cleo had decorated her pumpkin as a princess ballerina.

Cleo's two best pals, Zariya and Alexandria, were there along with another friend, Jada. They all ran around doing things together. They all got their nails painted at a breast cancer awareness stand. There was a dj and they danced a lot - Sidney joined them. Sidney danced some with Ms. Simpson - a floater teacher who helps out in the morning at breakfast so Cleo and Sidney see her every morning. Ms. Simpson always dances a lot at the festival. We were there 2:30pm to 4:00pm.

After the festival, we came home to relax. We discovered that Cleo likes soup so she had chicken and noodle soup with cheese and crackers and broccoli for dinner. She even put a little piece of broccoli between the crackers and had a broccoli and cheese mini-sandwich. Sidney had a few bites of his turkey burger and a bunch of his broccoli but would not eat the majority of his dinner. He copied Cleo and put little pieces of broccoli on his turkey burger. He's back to his dinner-time hunger strike.

Today we went to church then food shopping. We got the kids some long-sleeve shirts because their old ones either shrunk or they grew out of them - Sidney still wears 2T or 24M but his old ones don't fit. Cleo now wears XS - 4/5T so her 4T size shirts are all too short in the sleeve. Our babies are so not babies anymore. I know it's not right around the corner but I am already bracing myself for her to start kindergarten. I am going to be so sad and nervous. Sad because she's so big and nervous because the elementary school is so much larger and different than her nice, small, safe daycare that she's attended since she was 2 years-old.

Today, after the kids napped, Cleo wanted to dress up in all pink so she put on as much pink that she could. The picture above is documentation of the outfit. That's her version of having a relaxed Sunday afternoon - a tutu and fairy wings. Having a four year-old girl around is so much fun. Cleo played dress up games on my computer and Sidney watched Thomas the Train and played with his trains in the playroom. He's fairly good at entertaining himself when he's in the playroom.

Last week we put up a few Halloween decorations. At Target, I got those sticky Halloween images - they make them for all holidays. We put them on the window in the dining room so people driving up can see the decorations. The kids enjoyed putting them up. We also got two big pumpkins for $4 each at Walmart. We didn't carve them; when the kids are older we will do that. I love roasted pumpkin seeds so I look forward to doing the carving and roasting with them. We also got candy to give out to trick or treaters.

My dad is coming on Friday to celebrate Halloween with us. He comes every year. That will be fun. I bought a bag of pinto beans so my dad can make me a pot of his awesome refried beans.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday, I took Cleo to her art class. She made a flower out of clay. I made a tiny elephant for Sidney. Cleo also made a tiara shaped box. She will paint them in class next week. After art class, the 4 of us went to the Atlanta Parent Magazine Family Block Party at Mercer University's Atlanta campus. Admission was $4 each for me, Cleo and Roger - Sidney was free. For $12, we got an incredible value. Cleo got her face painted, we went to a petting zoo, Cleo got to sit in a police car and put on the siren, Sidney got to check out the exterior of a fire truck (he would not go inside) & Cleo got to check out the interior of the fire truck, play all sorts of games, create a colorful pipe cleaner tiara, make paper bat puppets, win coupons for mango/pineapple smoothies at McDonald's, color a paper tiara and crown and all sorts of other fun things. There was live music and Domino's handed out free pizza - their new artisan pizza isn't bad. We were there 11:30am-2:30pm. We headed home for naps.

After napping, we played, had dinner, baths and bedtime.

Sunday, we went to church. Sidney was very well-behaved; Cleo is always good. Cleo colored a lot in her "journal" (composition tablet) and Sidney put in a lot of stickers into his little journal. After church, we got the car washed. Both kids enjoyed that. When we got home, Cleo and I made brownies from scratch that came out really good. We put a lot of walnuts in them at the request of Roger. Cleo had one after lunch but wanted something else for dessert after dinner. She never wants to eat whatever we bake. A year or so ago, she insisted on making the Louis Alligator Cake out of the Princess Tiana Cookbook. She may have had one piece of the candy from the cake but refused to eat any of the actual cake.

During the kids' naps, I ran errands & did food shopping. The bulk of the errands consisting of going to numerous stores in order to cobble together a nice little manicure kit for Cleo. I couldnt' find one little kit with all of the things I needed. She will not stop biting her nails so we decided on this course of action. I got her this cute black zippered case with hot pink flowers on it. I got her a pink nail brush, a four-sided filing/buffing block (file, smooth, buff, shine), some Hello Kitty emery boards, a little wooden cuticle stick, and a little tub of lotion from the samples aisle at Target. The plan is that a few times a week, I will sit with her and we will clean her nails, file them, put lotion on them, push back her cuticles, and buff them. She was really into it yesterday when we did it for the first time after her nap. Let's hope it works to get her to stop biting her nails.

During the manicure, Sidney kept poking his face close to us saying, "Cleo, no biting nails." He's excellent at conveying rules that apply to other people but not great about following the ones that apply to him. As you can imagine, Cleo was not receptive to Sidney's reminding her of our rule.

Roger made ribs for dinner last night. Cleo enjoyed them; Sidney tried them but was not as into them. Roger also made kale which both kids ate but not with great enjoyment. I thought the kale was excellent. The kid like broccoli the most. I learned this weekend that Sidney likes corn and peas so we need to serve those vegetables more often. Cleo could eat broccoli every night. They both tolerate spinach as well.

That's all for now.

We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head, SC. We drove down Tuesday after work/school and arrived around 10pm.

Wednesday: Roger and I took Cleo and Sidney to the beach. We made sand castles, played in the water and had a lot of fun. There were little fish swimming close to the shore. Cleo and Sidney used their buckets to try to catch the fish. Cleo tried to catch some birds too. She ran after one yelling, "come here bird!" Sidney would yell after her "go, Cleo!" Cleo and Sidney love the water; Sidney cried when we had to leave.

Thursday: Roger golfed with his Aunt Connye. I took Cleo and Sidney to the beach. I taught Cleo how to make little drizzled sand castles. She is now a pro. Sidney kept wanting to go into the water to fill our buckets with sea water, "come on Mommy, more water." We had a lot of fun. Later, Sidney, Cleo, Linda, Roger, Connye and I got gelato at Pino Gelateria. There's one on Marietta Square in GA but the one in Hilton Head has a wider variety. I got a scoop of hazelnut and a scoop of Nutella. The. Best. Flavors. Ever. Sidney tried to ditch his scoop of chocolate and eat my flavors. I was nice and shared. Cleo really only uses ice cream as a vehicle for sprinkles. She LOVES sprinkles. She never finishes her ice cream.

Friday: Roger golfed with Connye. He got a birdie; yay Roger. I took Cleo and Sidney to see the horses and to the petting zoo. Cleo petted a deer named Callie. Sidney petted the deer and the other animals. Cleo claimed she wanted to go for a pony ride but later changed her mind. Sidney helped me feed the sheep and goats. I also fed a mule or donkey. Cleo was having none of that. Sidney laughed when the animals ate the food off of his hands because their lips tickled his palm. After the petting zoo, we swung by the house and picked up Linda (Roger's mom). We then went to a nearby playground. That was fun. There were slides and swings. Robin and Kaelin arrived that evening and the kids played together.

Saturday: Roger, Linda and I took the 3 kids to the playground. They loved it. We got cookies and pastries at a bakery that I had wanted to try out. We strolled around a little and looked at the yachts and boats docked at the harbor.

Sunday: We packed up and left the condo. We had breakfast at the Original Pancake House. There is one in Atlanta too but we have not been there in ages. Cleo and Sidney ate all of their silver dollar pancakes and bacon. I had strawberry waffles and homefries. Delish. We got home around 3:30pm. We unpacked and relaxed.

Pictures will be posted on http://www.cjwynn.shutterfly.com/ shortly.

Saturday, Roger and Cleo attended Cleo's first art class of the term. She decorated a tin can; it's quite cute. I will take a picture and post it. I took Sidney on errands; we mailed my mom (Cleo calls her Noma & Sidney insists on calling her Mona) her birthday package and got some essentials at Target. Sidney really enjoys shopping. At one point, I let him get out of the cart seat and he put his hand on the side of the cart and pretended to help me push the cart along.

We went home and Cleo and Sidney had lunch and took naps. Then, we went to our friend Lillian and Guillermo's son Tyson's 3rd birthday. It was great. It was held at a government center that housed a fire station and police station. We got a tour of the fire station and the kids got to climb on a fire truck. We took tons of photos and we will post them soon. Sidney would not go on the fire truck but Cleo was quite game and we got some nice photos of her posing. Later, we had dinner at Figo, a nice little Italian restaurant chain. Then, we had dessert at Coldstone Creamery. At the ice cream store, there was a little shih tzu with its masters. Sidney loves animals and went up to the dog and said, "Hello doggy. How you doin'? Good?" Cleo and Sidney petted the dog, her name was Cookie (she looked like an Oreo cookie). Cleo seems to be overcoming her fear of animals. Sidney is fearless.

Sunday we relaxed around the house. The kids had an early lunch and nap. We then took them to Kohl's because I had to return a dress. We got Cleo some super cute Levi's skinny jeans. She looks so adorable and grown up in them. Then we got the kids Happy Meals - Cleo got a cheeseburger and Sidney got 3 chicken mcnuggets. The Happy Meals now come with apples and french fries. It's smart because I am sure all of the kids were ordering fries and never ordering apples. The french fries are a smaller portion than used to come with Happy Meals.

We are leaving for Hilton Head tomorrow (Tuesday) after work. I am leaving work a little early and will pick the kids up from daycare. We will then pack up the car. We hope to hit the road by 5:00/5:30pm. Hilton Head is a 5 hour drive from Atlanta. Roger's mom and aunt arrived there today. We promise to take a lot of photos. I got Sidney a Thomas the Train beach chair and today Roger found two princess ones - one for Cleo and one for Kaelin. I am sure they won't be sitting much at the beach but it will be good for when they want to take a break to drink some water or eat a snack.

Roger's mom, GramLin to Cleo and Leenda to Sidney, sent the kids super cute rain gear which they broke in yesterday during our rainy Atlanta afternoon. Now when it rains, they can go on the deck and play.

We head to Hilton Head Sept. 28-Oct. 3. We cannot wait. The Toys R Us near my job is having a super moving sale and we bought some sand toys, pails, shovels, etc. We already had some but now they have more to enjoy. Roger's mom, aunt Connye, sister and our little niece Kaelin are joining us.

Saturday, we are going to my friend Lillian and Guillermo's son Tyson's 3rd birthday party at a fire station. Sidney loves fire trucks so it should be a fun time. Cleo loves parties so she will be sure to enjoy it as well. Prior to the party, Cleo will go to her 10 am art class at the Southwest Arts Center. The session starts tomorrow. We will wait until Sidney is 3 to sign him up; we don't think he has the attention span for a one hour sit down class right now.

We had a great weekend. Saturday, Cleo and I went to her school friend Angelina's 5th birthday party at KangaZoom. It's a fun bouncehouse not too far from our house. Cleo had a great time. She spent a lot of time with her school pal Braedon because Braedon and Cleo were the first kids to arrive (at 11am when the party was scheduled to start); all the other kids arrived around 11:45am.


Braedon has two mommies. I chatted with Braedon's more talkative mommy, Tracy. Her other mom is Shawn. Tracy went to Georgetown but grew up in Atlanta. I don't meet too many native Atlantans.

Braedon lives in our subdivision. Braedon turned 5 in Sept. but Atlanta's cut-off for kindergarten is in August so she's starting kindergarten in Aug. 2012, when Cleo starts (I know, can you believe Cleo is even anywhere close to attending kindergarten????AGH!!!!). The elementary school that Cleo & Braedon are zoned for is Deerwood Academy. It was named in the testing scandal but not as one of the worst offenders and the teachers identified were not permanent instructors there. The principal was named but supposedly she was recently cleared. On a very positive note, the school has a French language institute staffed by highly qualified people. And, in 2001, the school was awarded an International Baccalaureate Certification, which is highly sought after and provides for an enhanced curriculum. Deerwood also has a gifted program which Roger and I will ensure Cleo is enrolled in prior to her stepping foot in the school doors. All around, I am feeling better about the great likelihood that Cleo will have to attend public school.


Saturday evening, we had a spaghetti dinner gathering at Kim, Derrick & Kennedy Bell's house. Our pals Kevin, Keishe & their 3 kids joined us. They have a 4 year-old son, Bryce, and one year-old twins (Olivia and Lauren). It was really nice to see all of them.


Sunday, we went to Japan Fest. It's held at the Gwinnett Civic Center - around a 50 minute drive from our house. I got free tickets from work - my company had a booth for kids (basically bobbing for balloons with a little metal hook) and one of my company's subsidiaries had a booth. We got Sidney a little wooden snake that he enjoyed playing with. In the parking lot, koi sellers had set up so we saw super large goldfish and some little ones. Cleo and Sidney really enjoyed that. We went home for naps then out again to get Cleo a Halloween costume at Kids R Us. She selected an off-white Ariel gown - it was $15, not bad for a nice costume. We got her a tiara and wand too. We tried to talk her into a more glitzier pink one but she was set on the off-white one. We tried it on and she does look nice in it. We are hunting for a Percy costume. We have seen Thomas the Train ones. There are Percy ones for sale on-line but Roger is contemplating making one. More to come on that.


Sidney seems to be fully recovered from his Sept. 2 surgery. He's eating all sorts of things and seems happy and normal. He's chatting up a storm. He wants to play with Cleo a lot but then resists following her rules.


Have a good week.

We had a busy weekend doing water color, coloring in the kids' "journals", playing with playdough, wading in the kiddie pool, playing with trains, assembling puzzles, and watching various kid-oriented television shows and movies. Roger and Cleo made burgers, (purple) fries and ketchup out of playdough. Cleo's is the one with cheese in the corner of the pan.

Roger and Cleo made cupcakes for a second weekend in a row. Cleo helped Roger ice them too, which was cute to watch. Cleo has finished her dinner each night so far this week and earned herself a cupcake, which she thoroughly enjoys. Sidney tells her "good job" when she finishes her dinner. Sidney rarely finishes his dinner these days.

Sidney got progressively better all weekend and returned to school today. We did not get a call from the daycare center so I assume the day went fine. He was not pleased about being left there this morning but I left him in the loving arms of Ms. Simpson, one of the teachers there who acts as a breakfast attendant. Sidney is very familiar with her. UPDATE (9/14): daycare went fine and Sidney confirmed when asked that his three teachers (Ms. Whatley, Ms. Long and Ms. Weaver) gave him big hugs when they saw him.

Yesterday, Cleo recited the Pledge of Allegience over the school's loudspeaker. She was the first one from her class to do it and all of the children in her class will have a chance to do it. She's beyond smart. Cleo demonstrated how she did it and Sidney then imitated how she had her right hand on her heart and he said, "America." That's it. Pretty cute. The first time she recited it for us, he chirped, "triceratops!" As if to point out that he too was very smart and could say something impressive.

This weekend we are going to Japan Fest. My company provided us with free tickets. I will report next week on how it was. I am sure Cleo and Sidney will enjoy themselves.

Behold Cleo's awesome drawing. She is so talented. I am not biased at all. Also, see the poster that Sidney's classmates and teachers made for him. He LOVED it and dragged it around with him for a half an hour everywhere he went in the house. I picked it up from his class yesterday when I picked Cleo up from school.

Sidney was doing fine yesterday but wasn't doing great this morning. I hope he has an okay day. I will check in with Roger later today. Roger has been taking fabulous care of our little guy. It requires a lot of patience to be home with a sick child and I am very thankful that Roger has been doing this for our little family.

If Sidney is feeling okay, we are going sneaker shopping this weekend for him. He has grown out of his size 6.5 shoes and needs some size 7 sneakers. Cleo needs some skirts - for the weekend and school. She prefers to wear skirts all the time now, including to school. She wears tights or knee high socks with them now that it's gotten a little cooler here - it was 53 degrees this morning.

In late August when Hurricane Irene was heading to and hammering NYC, Cleo's class was studying New York. Cleo drew this drawing on August 29. I think it's awesome and I hope you do too.

Cleo was very excited to go to NYC and was sorely disappointed when she, Sidney and I were unable to go.

Sidney is doing fine. He has had 2 good days. He has not thrown up since we started him on the Zofran. As per doctor's office orders, he is not taking it the rest of the day to see how he does. Yesterday when Cleo and I got home, he was extremely chatty. He narrated the goings-on in the house and continued to do it this morning. He asked whether he was going to school and I told him that he was staying home with Daddy and that Cleo was going to school and I was going to work. A few times this morning he would point to me and inform me that I was going to work and told Cleo she was going to school. It's like the surgery and recovery have aged him. He is even more observant and involved in everything that goes on at home. He was playful and cheerful yesterday and this morning. Let's hope it continues!

Have a good day!

This is a picture of Cleo at her pals Alexandria and Quintin's 4th birthday party on Saturday. She's our little guitarist in training.

Friday, Sept. 2, Sidney had his tonsils and adenoids taken out. The surgery went well. I spent the night with him in the hospital on his twin size hospital bed. He slept a lot but was up from 4-5am watching Phineas & Ferb on the Disney Channel. There isn't much else on at that time. Around 7:30am, we went for a stroll to find coffee in the cafeteria. He was in his little blue hospital robe with astronauts on it and I had a blanket from home. I told him we were going to go investigate. Our mission was successful and we went back to his room.

He ate a lot of chocolate pudding on Friday and Saturday. He never showed much interest in it before. He also enjoyed mashed orange popsicles. I am sure they soothed his throat. We were discharged in the morning and Cleo and Roger came and got us around 11:30am on Saturday. When we were passing by the same hallway and elevator that we went by during my coffee expedition, Sidney said, "investigate" because it was earlier at that spot that I told him we were going to go investigate. Is he smart or what?

We went home and Sidney rested most of the day. Cleo and I went to her pals' party and then went shopping for some Gogurt, Jell-O and chocolate pudding for Sidney.

Sunday, Cleo and Roger ran some errands and I rested with Sidney. After the kids' naps we hung around the house and the kids played with Playdough. Monday was hard because Sidney started throwing up around 10am and didn't stop until this morning around 3am once we got some medicine that prevents throwing up. We had his doctor call in a prescription. He's been okay this morning - Roger is home with him. Sidney's doctor's assistant said that the drainage from his wounds and the mucus forming (all normal) is causing him to throw up. Poor little guy. Roger and I had around 3 hours of sleep last night. I am at work. I will definitely go to bed earlier tonight.

I took Cleo to school this morning and will pick her up later. Sidney will be home with Roger until at least Sept. 12. We will not rush his return to daycare; we want to make sure he's completely recovered.

Day 5-8, which start tomorrow, are supposed to be the most difficult because the scabs on his throat start to come off.

We took Sidney to his pre-op appointment today and his tonsils are still enlarged. I was hoping against hope that they would miraculously shrink and we would not have to have them removed.

He is scheduled for surgery on Friday, Sept. 2 - the tentative time is 8am. The time will be confirmed tomorrow. Roger dropped off the prescription for his antibiotics (a preventative measure to stave off infection) and pain killer. We have been warned that day 5 of recovery is the worst because that's when the scabs come off and his throat will be raw and painful.

We will load up on icy treats and milk so that he can eat/drink something when he's up to it.

We know we are doing the best thing for him but I am dreading the pain he will be in.

Cleo, Sidney and I did not go to NYC. Roger flew out at 11:35am on Friday. He returns tomorrow around 12:00pm. I was so sad to miss Ook and Aalea's wedding. Roger stayed with my dad and Ahnya in Brooklyn. They all did fine during the Hurricane, as did my mom.

Saturday, I took the kids food shopping at Publix. They were both very well-behaved. Cleo made sure that Sidney snapped himself into the cart - he resisted for most of the time we were in the store but in the face of Cleo's persistent, "Sidney, you need to be safe. Snap yourself in." he gave in. Cleo picked out a box of berry frosted Pop Tarts which she discovered she really likes. We got home and played a little and had an early lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches). We went to Sidney's classmate's birthday party from 4-7pm. Her name is Caitlyn Wynn, no relation. The party was great - it was a Minne Mouse theme. Cleo got her face-painted, which is one of her favorite things to do. The clown facepainter also handed out ballon shapes: Cleo got a pink flower and Sidney got a blue dog which I called an elephant because that is his favorite animal right now. If Sidney sees an "e" anywhere, he announces, "'E','elephant!!!'"

Sunday, we cleaned up and organized the kids' playroom. As can be expected, Cleo and Sidney did not really help. Cleo's contribution was correcting me when I called the plastic bin a "bin" and she said I should call it a "basket." Kids. When it was all cleaned up, the kids stayed and colored a bit. That was nice. We had an early lunch and naps and then we went to the library. The kids got 5 books each. I had created a list from Amazon for Caldecott Award winning books and found a few of them. The library was crowded. There were crayons and paper set out on the 3 kiddie tables in the kids area. After selecting their books, we sat at the table and colored. Cleo's schoolmate, Payton, came over. She was there with her mom and older sister returning books. After the library, we went to McDonald's for a strawberry/banana smoothie. I have tried all 3 smoothies there and they're all really good. They ate the smoothie and the kids played in the indoor playground at McDonald's. We left around 5:15pm and went home.

At home, I made some three cheese tortellini with soy sauce and parmesan cheese and broccoli on the side. Cleo loved it and finished her dinnerl. Sidney ate some broccoli and a few bites of tortellini. Cleo had 3 Hershey's miniature candy bars for dessert. Sidney did not get dessert. We then went upstairs for baths and watched a little of "Tangled" while they got their pajamas on and brushed their teeth. I put Sidney to bed first and then Cleo. Sidney read one of his library books and his Lightening McQueen book. Cleo read two of her library books.

We are looking forward to Roger's return on Tuesday; the kids and I really miss him.

C