Staying Cool When It's 106 Degrees Outside

Today, I woke up around 7am and had a cup of coffee in peace.  Sidney woke up around 8:00am. He ate a ton of bacon and some Eggo Cinnamon french toast sticks.  He also had some chocolate soy milk and chocolate milk after he drank all the soy milk (we didn't have that much left).  Cleo got up around 9am and she had french toast sticks and one piece of bacon.

We were low on bacon this morning and I actually made it - I laid it out on a pan and baked it. It was the first time I ever made bacon.  It was not the most pleasant experience taking it out of the package and laying it down on the pan. The fatty part was super, super slimy.  What we do for love.

After breakfast and playing a bit, we got dressed and I took the kids to Target for some minimal food shopping and to let Cleo spend the last $20 of her birthday money.  She selected a unicorn pillow pet and a pink Barbie refrigerator stocked with little fake ice cream sundae fix-ins.  I got Sidney an Avengers early reader book and some Avengers Squinkies so he can stop playing with Cleo's Squinkies - little rubber toys that are miniature versions of familiar popular characters, e.g., the Hulk, Thor, Hello Kitty, Disney Princesses, Transformers.

We came home and I made them little pizzas and broccoli. Sidney did not eat lunch.  After eating her lunch, Cleo ate 2 mini chocolate donuts and one powdered donut. I remember loving powdered donuts as a child.  I put Sidney to bed and then I put Cleo to bed.

During the kids' naps, I exercised for the first time since the first week of May. I have been so unmotivated to exercise. Let's hope my motivation has kicked in for good. I plan on exercising again during their naps tomorrow.

After the kids' naps, we played a quick game of indoor hopscotch.  In the photos below you can see Cleo's unicorn pillow pet. She uses it as a pillow when she sleeps in her bed.  She loves it.

We also watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel. After that, we watched Planet 51, a cartoon movie featuring the voice of The Rock as an astronaut who lands on a planet and enlists the help of some friendly aliens to get him back to Earth.  Cleo played with her Barbies during the movie and Sidney hovered around causing trouble and intermittently playing with Cleo's Barbies.  After the movie ended around 7, we ate dinner.

Roger had his lower right impacted wisdom tooth removed Thursday afternoon. He's recovering this weekend and has been holed up in our room.  He's doing much better than the first day. He's been eating clam chowder for dinner and eating lots of Jell-o during the day.  The kids visit him frequently during the day and they're always asking me about him.  He finally got to eat his strawberry muffins which he kept asking for when I got him home after surgery. When his anesthesia and other drugs finally wore off, I told him about his asking about the muffins and he said he had no recollection of anything we talked about from 3pm-9pm.

For dinner, I made Cleo a burrito with cheese and broccoli. Sidney wanted yogurt and I insisted on him eating broccoli. He had 2 bites of yogurt (blueberry Greek yogurt) and one bite of broccoli.  I don't understand how he subsists on so few calories each day. He didn't eat his dinner last night either.  Cleo ate all of her food and had 3 mini donuts again.

After dinner, we made some get well decorated heart cards for Roger. I will take a picture of them tomorrow and post the picture in a later blog entry.

After our arts and crafts session, I attempted to put Sidney to bed.  He's being super difficult when I put him to bed and wants me to lay with him forever. He keeps asking me to, "lay with me one more minute, Mommy. Please!"  When I was trying to extricate myself from his room, some nearby fireworks started up and lasted for a good 45 minutes. Cleo was resting in our bed with Roger and we all gathered on the 2nd floor landing to watch the fireworks through the window that faces our street.  The fireworks were pretty but it was so late by the time they finally ended. Sidney kept asking if they were over whenever there was a pause between blasts. When the finale was over, he asked if the fireworks went home to their families.

When Sidney means to say "that's incorrect" he says "that's not fair." It's cute.  Cleo and I tell him he's misusing that phrase and tell him what he should be saying. Today when the kids were playing with Cleo's Barbies, Sidney said, "pardon me" to Cleo. I didn't hear it. Cleo said, "Mommy, Sidney's so cute. He just said "pardon me" to me!"  She was so impressed with him.

Cleo can sound out so many words in her early reader books. She's excited to do it and loves to read to me and Roger when we put her to bed.

Both kids are finally in bed. I will stay up a little longer to decompress and brace myself for another long day.  I am not sure if I will take them out of the house. Maybe I will take them to Publix to get some fruit and vegetables for the week and the newspaper.

I cannot believe how hot it's been in Atlanta and the rest of the Atlantic Seabord.  When I was driving home from work on Friday, the car's temperature reader said it was 114 degrees outside.  According to NPR, it was 103 degrees; I know my car detects that it's hotter outside than it actually is.

Have a  good rest of your weekend.

Been A Long Time....

Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog!  It's been a busy June so far.  We celebrated my birthday on June 9 at Cafe Sunflower. Roger, Cleo, and Sidney sang their hearts out when the waiter brought me my slice of old fashioned chocolate cake. Sidney and Cleo proceeded to eat most of the frosting.

Saturday, June 9 we attended Sidney's pal Sidney Dickinson's 3rd birthday party at KangaZoom. Cleo is friendly with Sidney's older sister, Shelby.

On Monday, June 11, Cleo and Sidney serenaded me with Happy Birthday in the morning and wished me happy birthday when I picked them up from daycare.  Roger surprised me with a homemade chocolate fudge frosted layer cake. It was great.

On June 16 we headed to Jacksonville. I had a settlement meeting to attend on June 20 and we went early so that we could spend Father's Day with Linda, Robin and Kaelin. On Father's Day, we attended a special brunch that Linda helps plan every year.

 Roger and his cousin, Bubba.

Kaelin, Cleo and Bubba's grand-daughter, Jahara.

On June 19, we went to American Beach. It's near Fernandina and Amelia Island.  The kids had a great time, Robin and Linda had to work but we brought Kaelin with us. We were able to fit her booster seat in the third row of our car.

On the evening of June 19, we celebrated Kaelin's 4th birthday. She turned 4 on June 22.  We had cake, ice cream, goodie bags, and party hats. It was a nice little party that Robin threw for the 7 of us. Sorry I didn't get Cleo in this shot.  I really wanted a photo of Kaelin alone but Sidney insisted on being in it with her.

On June 20, Roger dropped me off at my settlement meeting in Jacksonville Beach - it took place in the common area of the condominium building that was the subject of the settlement meeting.  Roger spent the day with Kaelin, Cleo, and Sidney.  They picked me up around 5:30pm.

We drove back on June 21.  I finally watched True Blood, it was just okay. I also watched Crazy, Stupid, Love and fell back in love with Ryan Gosling. He's so great in that movie.

I went to work on June 22.  When I picked Cleo and Sidney up from school I asked his teacher if she noticed that he became more chatty while he was away. She said that as a matter of fact she had noticed. She said that when he first saw her he told her, "Ms. Houston, I really missed you while I was away!!"  Sometimes it's like he just enjoys hearing his own voice.  He asks us questions he knows the questions too, e.g., pointing at a picture of the Hulk, he will ask, "Mommy, who's that?"  He knows quite well who it is because he is super obsessed with him.

On June 11, Sidney was moved to the next classroom - along with 4 other kids.  He's now in Room 400. He still spends some time in his old classroom because of teachers' vacations and there aren't as many kids attending daycare during the summer.  His potty training has come along fairly well - now I think he's doing better at school than at home. At daycare, they keep him in his underwear and somehow he stays dry all day and tells them when he has to go to the bathroom.  He has to wear a pull-up at home or else he'd pee in his underwear.

On Saturday, June 23, we went to School Box to get Cleo and Sidney some workbooks. School Box is this great educational resource store for parents and teachers.  During the summer, we want Cleo to keep up her math, reading, and writing skills.  We also went to Toys R Us and Cleo bought some Squinkies with her $25 birthday gift card from Linda.  We got Sidney a Hulk, Spiderman and Wolverine placemat. We got Cleo a Disney Princess placemat - Belle is prominent on it and she's Cleo's current favorite.

Today we went to church - 8 am service. Then we went food shopping.  After naps, we spent time on the deck enjoying the warm air and cool water.  For dinner, Roger made pork chops, rice pilaf and broccoli. I made roasted, sliced sweet potatoes and tofu. The kids ate tofu, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.  We got them mini chocolate and powdered donuts which they loved - Cleo had them for dessert after lunch too.  I am working my way through the sack of huge chocolate chip cookies that Cybele sent me for my birthday. For dessert tonight, I warmed one up and topped it with vanilla ice cream. Pretty spectacular.

I discovered this awesome shaving gel. It's the Up & Up brand (Target's generic brand) strawberry tangerine shaving gel. It's $1.79 and smells great. I also got a close shave from it - better than the Edge shave gel that foams up.  You should all try it.

I have a busy week this week - nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of regular stuff that has to get done.

I am about to pour my glass of Riesling wine and settle in to watch True Blood. I have significantly lowered my expectations for this show - I know I say this every year. Even when it is not good, it's still awesome high drama and better than most things on television these days.

Have a good week.

Our Little Graduate!

Cleo’s graduation on May 24 was great.  

She did a wonderful job reciting her valedictorian speech, which you can watch here.  She and her classmates performed a super rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” I attempted to embed the link to the Youtube video of Cleo giving her speech, hopefully you are able to access it.

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We got her flowers and a balloon. Robin also got Cleo some flowers.

Cleo with her co-valedictorian, Brayden.

Cleo with her best bestie, Alexandria, and Alexandria's twin brother, Quinton.

Cleo with her teacher, Ms. Jennifer.

Cleo and Robin, sorry it's so blurry.

Friday, May 25 was the celebratory luau. I took the day off from work.  Roger and I volunteered to set up, help out with, and clean up. A few other plucky parents helped as well.  Cleo had a great time. There was a bouncehouse water slide, which Cleo did not particularly enjoy.  She did enjoy the dance contest – she was one of the 7 winners.  She won by doing an interesting interpretive type of dance. Her dancing reminds me of a college senior dance major doing her senior thesis dance performance.  There was a cookout with hotdogs and hamburgers. There was quite a spread for her and her classmates, including fruit, chips, mac & cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, and potato salad.  For dessert there were cookies, cupcakes, and a cake.

After lunch, there was an awards ceremony at which Cleo received her valedictorian award, and medals and/or certificates for Spanish, soccer, ballet, and sign language.  The three of us picked up Sidney around 3pm and headed home.

Saturday, we hung around the house.  That evening, we celebrated our anniversary. Cleo and Sidney’s babysitter, Ms. Angie, came around 5:30 and Roger and I headed out to see the Avengers. It was really good.   Ms. Angie braided Cleo’s hair. It came out really nice. These are pictures of Cleo and Sidney playing in the pool on Sunday.

At some point on Saturday, the kids played with the Wii - boxing.

Monday, May 28 Roger golfed. Cleo, Sidney, and I hung around the house and went to McDonalds for lunch. We were there 11am-12pm. Cleo ate her lunch. Sidney did not. The played in the indoor playground for a long time. There was a 4 year-old boy and 6 year-old girl there and they all played together.  The bathroom is horrible there and I wrote a complaint yesterday. I will not take them to that McDonalds again.  Chick Fil A bathrooms are always clean, new, and tidy. If I need to take them to a restaurant with a playground, I will take them to Chick Fil A.

This summer, Cleo is considered a camper so she does not have to wear her uniform. It’s a good thing because her 4T uniform polos were looking a bit short on her.  Sidney is still considered a regular student so he wears a uniform.

This past week Sidney was learning about dinosaurs at school. When I picked him up from school on Thursday, his teacher pointed at a t-rex and asked him what type of dinosaur it was and he said, “That is a meat eater.”  His teacher and I were so proud.

This weekend, we went to Jacksonville, FL because it was Roger’s family friend’s, Bubba, son’s (Isaiah aka Zeze) college send-off party.  In the Fall, he will be attending Florida Atlantic University. There are bunch of campuses, I am not sure which one he’s attending.  We drove down Saturday morning and returned yesterday.  We got Cleo’s hair rebraided on Friday. It looks so nice!

Sunday, Roger’s mom had to work. We stopped by on our way out of the city to say good-bye. Cleo wanted to take a walk to the river which was less than a block away.  We took pictures with two running statues on the sidewalk.  Cleo has a lollipop in her mouth, the stick is sticking out of her mouth.

I have fallen off the eating right and exercising bandwagon. But, as of today, I am back on it. I am tracking my food and will try to do some sort of exercise this week. I pulled my neck and upper back last week, I shrugged weird and pulled something, so I am going to wait until I feel 100%, which will hopefully be later this week.

This weekend, Sidney and I are attending his pal Sidney Dickinson’s 3rd birthday. It should be fun. She’s one of his good little pals at daycare.

Have a good week!