Goodbye, 2010

Abby had her first gymnastics meet. Hannah dressed up in her leotard and went along, too. Abby proudly showed off her skills on the bars, floor, and balance beam. The entire event lasted over an hour. Every five minutes, Hannah would ask, "Did Abby win, yet?" At the end of the competition, each participant received their awards. Abby got a trophy for getting a score of 9.0 or higher in all her categories. After that award, it was announced that her team had won second place in the competition. They came up to the blocks, and Hannah could control herself no longer. So quickly that I could not stop her, she ran on stage and gave Abby a huge hug and a kiss.







The girls rearranged the nativity so that everyone was facing baby Jesus. (Even the hay.)


The girls have been begging for Pillow Pets. Knowing that my folks had them under the Christmas tree, I kept telling them no. One day, while Abby was crying for a pillow pet at the store, Hannah said, "I think Abby is on Santa's naughty list."

(The girls with cousin Jocie.)


Abby has been hinting around about her doubt over Santa's existence. One day over dinner, she said, "Mom, can I talk with you in the other room without Hannah?" I knew the time had come, and since I had the tooth fairy talk, I chickened out of this one. "Ask your father!" I said. She took Mike in the other room. It went something like this:
A- I know that Santa is magic, and I know that magic isn't real. So that means that Santa isn't real.
M- That's right, but it's fun to pretend. Now that you know, you get to help us pretend with Hannah.
A- Okay.
That was it!! The tooth fairy conversation was horrible! Tears and betrayal marked that time. Mike got off way too easy. I got a letter from Abby a few days later.
"Dear Mom and Dad. I know Santa Claws isint real. So why do you spend like all of your money away because we just have so much of it."
I love that she thinks we only buy gifts to keep the Santa farce alive.


Since the Santa talk went so smoothly, I was unprepared for this talk with Abby a couple weeks later.
Mom, is Rapunzel real?
No, it's just a fairy tale.
Is Jazmine real?
No, she's made up.
But Daddy said that princesses are real!
They are, but not the movie ones. Princesses live in other countries, but they are regular people just like you. We can look some up on the computer when we get home, if you want.
Is Belle?
No.
(panic in her voice) But we saw them at Disneyland!
Those were just people in costumes.
Her face crumpled, and once again I took a little piece of Abby's world away. Mike's getting the Easter bunny.


Hannah asked if Santa is going to heaven when he dies. I told her that if he trusts in Jesus, then he will. She said, "But if he goes to heaven, how will kids get their presents?" Abby calmed her by saying, "He won't die and go to heaven until there are no more kids that need presents." Santa's got a long wait.


At Hannah's school, Santa came to visit. They each sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. Hannah's teacher wrote down what they had asked for so that the parents could see. When I came to pick her up, there was a note with each child's name and the gift request. I loved the end of the list:
Hannah - pillow pet
Mitchell - firetruck
Sam - doctor kit
Madi - see list


This next picture is after I begged, "Come on, girls, I want a good picture!"


My hair has gotten pretty long, and my old curlers weren't doing the trick anymore. I finally got more curlers and made my hair fancy one morning. Hannah noticed it first and mentioned it to Mike, who then noticed. He complimented me, and I explained the curler dilemma. "If it's still curly at the end of the day, then I will know the curlers work well!" He replied with an affirmative grunt.
Six hours later. "My hair is still curly! I like these curlers!" He replied with a confused grunt.
The next day, he noticed the box that the curlers came in. "Hey," he said, "you got new curlers?" I told him that he was correct and that we had already discussed it twice the day before. "We did?"
I said, "You know I'm going to blog about this!" Mike assured me that every man who read the blog would understand, and I was sure that every woman who read it would also understand. Who's with me?


Mike was praising the girls for their good listening. "I have two good girls, don't I, Hannah?" She replied, "Yes! And if you only had one good girl, it would be me!"

The girls put their Minnie Mouse earmuffs over a fur lined hat.



Abby got an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. When she opened it, she cried, "An Easy Bake Oven! Now we can have treats whenever we want!"


Abby and Hannah are fascinated with the Salvation Army man in front of Walmart. They often drop coins into his bucket, and they love that he keeps ringing his bell. While we were at home one day, Hannah gave me some money. She said, "I am the money collector." She then stood there and rang a bell at me until I placed all the coins in her bucket.



Mike told me that I had a string on my pants. Hannah looked me over and took the string off. She then looked around the room, trying to decide where to dispose of the string. She finally shoved the trash in between two couch cushions and called it a day.

We had a family reunion after Christmas. My aunts and uncles and cousins came from San Diego and North Carolina. Altogether, there were 26 of us! It was a WONDERFUL time. Abby and Hannah fell in love with the entire Walters clan, especially their second cousins, two handsome boys. They also really liked the people that lived in trailers. (The motor home crew.)

This is my favorite picture of my niece, Molly. She obviously has her father's attitude problem.

December Thus Far

I told Abby and Hannah that they could pick out whatever nail polish they wanted and I would buy it and give them manicures. I steered them towards the cheap stuff, and try as I may to dissuade them, they were dead set on neon orange and bright yellow. The next day, while showing a stranger her nails, Hannah explained, “This is my nail polish. Mom says it’s ugly.”

I let Abby pick out a Christmas tree topper this year, since our old one was broken. She picked out an $8 Walmart sparkly tin-foil type thing. I assured her that it was hideous, but she was dead set on it. When Gramma came over a few days later, Abby proudly showed off the star. “I picked out this star. Mom says it’s ugly!” (See a theme here?)



Abby’s class has a 10:00 snack time, so each day I placed a snack in her backpack. Eventually, I began putting five snacks in there for the week. Last week, I noticed the snacks were disappearing too quickly, and I asked her why. Abby the nurturer, explained that some moms are forgetting to pack snacks, so Abby is helping out the hungry kids. Here’s my quandary: I don’t want to pack snacks for all the kids who don’t have any, but I can see that Abby is doing something that I want to encourage. Mike and I talked about it, and he said to put two snacks in each day. I tried that, but the next day, Abby came home and loaded the backpack up. “Mom, you didn’t put enough snacks in today!” I have raised a child who is much nicer than I am.



“Mom,” asked Hannah in the car one day, “what does ‘A’ stand for?” When I told her I didn’t know, she said, “Hot. And ‘C’ stands for cold.” I was confused until I followed her eyes. She was looking towards the front dash at the button that says, A/C. Pretty smart, huh?



Hannah was playing with a flashlight and talking me through her actions. “I just need to fix the batteries because it doesn’t work right. I need the simples to match the simples.” She takes the batteries out, looks at them carefully, and starts turning them around. “There! Now the simples match the simples! It will work now!” And it did!

November

I was enjoying some peace and quiet while taking a shower. In the master bath, our sinks and vanities are in one area, and the shower is in a small room. With the door shut, I feel almost secluded. This night, my bliss was cut short when Abby came in and announced, “I just came in to throw up!” Mike followed her to help. (Mind you, there is another bathroom that has a perfectly good toilet to throw up in.) As the two of them got prepared, Hannah walked in. “Mom! Can I have some water?” Sigh.

Abby gets stuck trying to exit the vehicle:

Hannah is beginning to use more sophisticated words. However, she does not always use them in the right context.
When I asked her if she played with Tommy at recess:
No, Tommy does not organize me.
When Abby was bossing Hannah around:
Mommy! Abby is instructing me!
When she means to say, “It doesn’t matter,” or “I don’t mind”:
I don’t matter.

The girls make out their wish list for Santa:


Hannah:
Mom? Do you know what advertise means? It’s when they put you under the water and then lift you back up.
Mom: Do you mean baptize?
Hannah: I keep forgetting that word!

We made Hannah stop sucking her thumb when she turned four six months ago. It was surprisingly easy, so I was surprised when she recently asked me when she could start sucking it again. I told her that she can never suck it. She was sad and said, “I’m just going to suck it a little right now.” Fearing a relapse, I told her not to. Resigned, she finally said, “Okay, I’ll just lick it a little.” Then she did just that.



The girls had a sleepover with their grandparents. Hannah is an early riser. She has often said that she’s frustrated that everyone else knows how to sleep except for her. When she got up early that morning, she told Papa, “When I’m older, I’ll learn how to sleep in.”

Mike and I went on a date while the girls were gone. At the end of the evening, we decided that we went on an old people date. First, we saw a movie about retired people. The theater was filled with retired people, and we went at an early time so we wouldn’t have to be annoyed by youngsters. After the movie, we bought soup and took it home so that we wouldn’t have to sit in a crowded restaurant. Our lives are on the cutting edge, let me assure you!

Hannah has asked bits and pieces about how babies are born. I’ve told her things here and there, but one day, she pieced it all together for Abby. It was surprisingly coherent. “Abby, after you get married, a baby will grow in your tummy after a little while, like two weeks. (This part censored for publication.) When it comes out, it will hurt, but then you will have a beautiful baby and it won’t hurt anymore.”
Hannah also told me, “I told Sam at school that he’s lucky he’s a boy. He’ll be a dad, not a mom. The mom has to get the shot in the pee-pee when the baby comes.” She emphasizes this by pointing to the area in question. (I had explained earlier that if you don’t want it to hurt, you get a shot. She surmised the rest.) We had to have a discussion about proper peer topics. I also told her that I got a shot in the back, not the “other” place. She thought about it and said, “I think I’ll have the doctor give me the shot in the stomach.”

We were headed to Panara’s for dinner. I asked Hannah what she was going to eat. She replied, “Mashed potato soup. That is the last one in my soup tasting collection.”

Abby was teasing Hannah about her boyfriend, Tommy. Hannah claimed that he is not her boyfriend.
H- He is a boy and we are friends, and we are in love.
A- That’s a boyfriend!
H- Okay, then he’s my boyfriend.
A- I’m going to tell my whole class that you have a boyfriend.
H- Okay.
This starts already??

The girls after a three hour play date:



There is a framed picture in Hannah’s preschool class. It shows the kids on the first day of school. On child is smiling, two are crying, and six look terrified. Only one little blond child looks completely comfortable. Hannah is in the back row with her hand on her hip. She is perfectly posed with a huge smile on her face. Good self-esteem – check!

My dad gave me an old GPS system. When I first started using it, I gave it a male voice with an English accent. The girls wanted to name the voice, so I began thinking of interesting English names. The girls thought faster than I, and his name is now Mr. Silly Pants.



We were waiting to ride a kiddie train when Hannah saw an older boy throwing acorns at his brother. She walked over to him and gave him a Mom look. “You should know better than that!” she told him.

In the hallway of Hannah’s school, there is a large turkey picture. Each feather lists what the child is thankful for. All the feathers read like this, “I am thankful for. . . .” Each one then lists Mom and Dad or sibling as the number one thing. Hannah’s however, is different. Hers reads, “I am thankful for chicken!”


While at my parents’ house one night, my sister-in-law and I heard my mom scream, followed by a loud crash and glass shattering. The children were all in the room with her, and they began screaming. You’ve never seen Shelley and I move so fast! We discovered that everyone was fine. Hannah had reached for an item that was on an unstable perch, and the entire thing came crashing to the ground. (My mom lectured me about bolting everything to the wall, so I think this is great that this happened at her house.)
Hannah was horrified, because she thought that it was her fault. She cried loudly until we could explain to her that it was not her fault and we were not angry. The main thing was that no one was hurt.
Several minutes later, I heard her reasoning, “It’s no one’s fault, especially not mine, because I did it.”

Poor Hannah gets so bored when Abby goes to school:
Abby had a Thanksgiving performance at school. There were five or so songs. After each song, all the kids stood (relatively) still, except for mine. Abby took a deep bow after each song. My mom rolled her eyes and looked at my dad and me. Ever the hams, we were so proud.

October

In October, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Cambodia. (It will be blogged about more, later, but I am not finished with my journal yet.) Mike's mom was flying out to spend two weeks helping Mike with the girls. The day I left, Mike's mom was injured and could not make the trip out. Mike never told me that he was alone, since he wanted me to enjoy my time there. I received several emails, and never thought it strange that Grammy was not mentioned. One email even said that he was tired of being a single dad. (I made fun of him for that one, since I thought his mom was there.) So, for 12 days, he was super dad. Thank you to everyone who helped out, especially Mom and Dad, Scott and Kelli, and Melanie. The girls were kept entertained with:

School Carnival


Annual Pumpkin Patch (Notice that Abby's eating the bread that she's supposed to be feeding the donkey.)


Dinner Dates with Cousins Jocie and Will


and

A Trip to Fossil Rim Wildlife Park (I love this place! All the animals walk right up to your car as you drive through the park.)


While I was gone, I rode an elephant and ate a spider. The girls were thrilled with these facts, so when I got home, I found pictures in the dining room and plates of plastic spiders on the dining table.

Hannah loves the elephant picture because it looks like he's going potty. Abby assures us that his tail is yellow, it's not pee.


A conversation in the back seat of the car between two four-year-olds:
Hannah: Did you know that the yellow stuff in your nose is called snot?
Vivian: Yeah, and the green stuff is called boogers.

We were picking out the girls’ Halloween costumes. I ran across one that was a two-piece, skimpy ‘I dream of Jeanie’ outfit. I laughed at the thought of a four-year-old in an outfit baring her midriff. Just then, Hannah saw it. “Mom! That could be your costume!”



We took the girls on their first camping trip. They were thrilled! When we got to the campsite, however, Hannah lost some enthusiasm. It appeared that this particular site was a breeding area for spiders. There was a lovely canopy of spiders over much of the site. Mike got to work knocking the webs down. What we couldn’t reach, we assured the girls would not fall on us.
We enjoyed hot dogs for dinner and smores for dessert. Abby enjoyed the “three desserts in one!” The next morning, we hiked for over an hour. That was my favorite part of the adventure. These girls, who get exhausted after five minutes in a store, hiked for an hour. Before we left, we found a man-made beach and had fun on the sand. (Which was nothing like San Diego sand, by the way.) Abby, who lived in San Diego until she was two, declared, “This is the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen!”
On the way home, we asked the girls what their favorite part of camping was. Without hesitating, Abby said, “Peeing in the bushes!” Hannah agreed.



Hannah said that she was going to make new friends at the gym one day. Abby became offended and asked why Hannah needed new friends, since she had Abby. Hannah asked, “Can I just make ONE new friend?” Abby wasn’t too happy about it.
A few days later, Hannah said, “Vivian is my bestest friend.” She then looked at Abby and quickly amended, “But Abby is my bester friend!”



A few days after I returned from Cambodia, I was getting Abby ready for school. I made her take her Sudafed, which she hates. After brushing her teeth, I made her use mouthwash, which she hates. She finally grumbled, “I wish you were still in Cambodia!” I asked, “Why? Because I make you do Sudafed and mouthwash?”
“Yeah, and do my homework!”



Hannah was goofing around while I was getting her dressed after a bath. When I finally asked what she was doing, she pushed my last button by replying, “Ignoring you!”


On Halloween, we started trick-or-treating early so that we could get our neighborhood in before we headed to Jocie and Will’s house. The cousins love to trick-or-treat together. In our neighborhood, we weren’t having much luck. No one would answer the door. At the 6th house, someone finally opened up. She dropped some candy in the girls’ buckets. Hannah put on her best sad face, and said, “Look, we don’t have ANY candy!” The woman dropped more candy in the buckets.