The Adventures of Jing and Ying!

Comparing

2012-02-07T08:16:00.001-08:00

Lately I find myself comparing my daughters. It's hard not to.

Kylie is easy-going, sweet natured and up for anything. She will try anything once and has no fear. She excels at pretty much anything she tries.

Sophie, on the other hand, is more difficult. She is sweet, but she doesn't like to try new things. She prefers to be coddled and held. She has no interest in soccer, Chinese dance, Brownies or anything else. She takes piano, grudingly (see previous post) but doesn't seem to enjoy it. She seems to like gymnastics, but she tried out for the team and did not make it. I felt terrible for her. Most of the other kids in her class who tried out made the team.

I know I shouldn't compare, but I do. I want Sophie to be passionate about something, and right now she's not. I don't want to force her to do something she doesn't like. When I was a little older than Sophie's age my parents forced me to take soccer. I HATED soccer. Hated it so much that I would pray for rain so the games would be cancelled. My mom said she thought I would be good at soccer because I was fast. Ha. 30+ years later I still recall how sick to my stomach I would get before practices and games. I won't put Sophie through that.

Sophie will tell you in no uncertain terms how she is feeling. If she doesn't like something she won't hesitate to state her opinion. She is good at drawing but doesn't like to write. She has a wild imagination and a wicked sense of humor. She likes to stay up late and sleep late. She is afraid to sleep by herself and wants us to sleep with our arms wrapped around her.

Kylie is more reserved. She gets stressed if she makes mistakes. She is tender-hearted. The other day when she got off the school bus she looked upset. I asked her what was wrong and she burst into tears. She said that at school they learned about cancer and watched a video about it. She said that she felt so bad for people who had cancer. It was heartbreaking to listen to her cry. I finally calmed her down.

I'm back!

2012-02-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

It's been 9 months since my last post. I stopped doing the blog thing because I was updating my status on Facebook instead. Now that Facebook is going through many changes I am questioning the privacy/security thing, so I've deted my Facebook account and I'm back to blogging.

My days are hectic and always filled with things to do. On Tuesdays I take both girls to piano from 6:30 to 7:30. Kylie's been taking piano for almost 2 years now and she's really good. I'm amazed at how quickly she plays her scales and how she catches on. Sophie, on the other hand, is mediocre. She does not like to practice and cries when I correct her. She frustrates easily. The other night I got fed up with it and told her I was pulling her out of piano, which made her cry even more. She said she doesn't want to quit and I'm not sure if it's because she enjoys it, or because the teacher gives her a piece of candy at the end of each lesson.

On Wednesdays I take the girls to Kylie's gymnastic practice. Both girls are in gymnastics and both used to have practice on Thursdays, but recently Kylie made the level 4 team so her practices are now on Wednesdays. Sophie tried out, but did not make the team so her practice is still on Thursdays. Kylie's practice increased from 1 hour to 2 hours, so Sophie and I do errands while Kylie is at gymnastics.

Friday night is "open gym" where both girls can practice what they've learned in class. Saturday is Chinese dance for Kylie, but right now it's on a brief hiatus until March.

Here's a summary of a typical week:
Monday - work
Tuesday - work, then piano
Wednesday - work, then gymnastics
Thursday - gymnastics
Friday - open gym
Saturday - Chinese dance
Sunday - nothing, except Brownie meeting one Sunday a month

2011-05-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since I last posted.

What's new with me is that I've become a "mystery shopper." That means that I get paid to shop and eat! I do contract work with several companies. So far I've done a few jobs for a major fast-food chain, some local restaurants, a mattress store, a deli, a major retail store and an apartment building. It's been pretty interesting. Here some of the stuff I've done:

1. Go to a major retail store and blow up balloons for Mothers' Day (using a helium tank): I got there and no one in the store could even locate the three boxes of balloons. I stood around for an hour, left without blowing up balloons and still made $10.

2. Ate at a local restaurant: I got paid $5 plus a free meal. I had to comment on the server and the cleanliness of the restaurant. I brought a book to read and had a relaxing 30 minutes away from the kids and husband!

3. Ate at a local ice cream shop/bakery: this is the best bakery around and is known for their ice cream. In fact, Oprah has the ice cream shipped to her in Chicago. I brought Kylie and Sophie with me. We got ice cream and cupcakes. They paid for our food and we got $5 on top of that. The store is located on the way to dance class, so we didn't waste gas.

4. Counting the steps: I got hired to go to a local deli/convenient store 5 miles from my house. All I had to do was count how many steps it took me to walk from the front of the store to the back. It was a very, very tiny store and only took me 17 steps. I also had to count the # of cash registers....one! Got paid $4 for this. By far the easiest job.

5. Go to a mattress store: I had to go to a mattress store and pretend like I was looking for a king-sized mattress. I had to get the salesman to write me a quote. It took 30 minutes max and I made $13.

6. Check out an apartment: I went to a local apartment community and had to pretend I was looking for a 2-bedroom apartment. I took a tour of the apartments and had to write a report. I got paid $18 but it was an in-depth report which took a long time. In hindsight, it really wasn't worth the $18.

7. Grocery Store: On Saturday I went to the local grocery store. I had to buy at least $9 worth of groceries. I had to put a large item underneath the cart to see if the cashier would notice (she didn't). They paid me $9 for my groceries and an additional $5.

8. Electronics Store: I visited a large-chain electronics store. I had to inquire about purchasing a refrigerator and a gaming system. I was there for 30 minutes and made $13.

This week I have three more assignments, one involving a buffalo wing restaurant. I don't make a lot of money, but it's very interesting and (sometimes) fun!

More Sophie Photos

2011-04-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

Fun with Sophie

2011-04-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Blogger is finally cooperating, so I am able to post some photos. These were taken a few weeks ago, before all the rain. The past two weeks we have had a TON of rain. In fact, this April has been the rainiest in history!

These photos were taken in our yard, on a Thursday while Kylie was at school and I was at home with Sophie. I love having Thursdays and Fridays with just Sophie. The weather was nice so we had a hotdog picnic. Scooter and bike-riding afterwards, with Pet Shoppy (her stuffed animal turtle) of course.

La-La

2011-04-03T18:35:00.001-07:00

Next month La-La will turn one year old. She has been such a blessing to our home. Kylie and Sophie love seeing her every day when they return home from school. Kylie makes sure La-La always has food. Somehow Steve and I are the ones always changing the litterbox. I've tried bribing Kylie without any luck.

La-La is a snuggler. She has to be in the same room with us at all times. When we take a shower, she stands just outside the shower door and watches us. When I'm sitting at the computer she jumps into my lap. She also recognizes her name and runs over when you call her.

For Girl Scouts Kylie was learning about pet care and had to make a chart showing how she takes care of La-La (see photo above)

Spring Photos

2011-04-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

The girls in action. When the weather is lovely and we're outside, it's difficult for them to stand still for a photo!

Tooth Out

2011-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Kylie's top front tooth had been loose for months. In fact, in December I was sure she was going to lose it before Christmas so I bought a pin of a smiling tooth wearing a Christmas hat and holding a candy cane. The tooth fairy was going to give it to her. But Christmas came and went and the tooth remained, loose but not loose enough to fall out on it's own.

We tried apples, carrots and every hard food you can imagine. Still nothing. Meanwhile the tooth started twisting to the side. It looked horrible. Her gums were swollen and bloody and soon she started begging for us to have the dentist remove it. Finally on Thursday I took her to the dentist, who agreed it was ready to come out. A little Orajel and a few minutes later the tooth was out. Kylie didn't make a peep.

The tooth fairy did leave her the tooth pin, which she loved and wore to school the next day. And $1 for the tooth.

Short-order Cook

2011-03-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

I have many occupations. Wife. Mother. Taxi-cab driver (to dance class, piano lessons, Girl Scouts). Maid. Doctor (administator of band-aids, ice packs and medicine). Party planner (birthdays).

And let's not forget Short-Order Cook. There are many nights that I make several dinners for the family. Example: When I make spaghetti and meatballs, Kylie doesn't like tomato sauce so she gets spaghetti noodles mixed with butter and parmesan cheese. She likes meatballs, but not on the noodles. She likes them on a separate plate, with a side of ranch dressing to dip them in. Sophie likes tomato sauce, but the meatballs have to be cut up and stirred in with the sauce, and all of it covered in parmesan cheese. She likes garlic bread but with the crusts cut off. Steve likes spaghetti with tomato sauce, but likes the meatballs placed on top of the noodles and sauce.

Another example: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. Sophie loves tomato soup with freshly ground pepper on top. She's not crazy about grilled cheese and has to have the crust cut off. Kylie loves grilled cheese but is not crazy about tomato soup. She likes the crust on, but has to have a side of ranch to dip her sandwich in (do you see a trend here? The girl loves ranch). Steve likes tomato soup but not grilled cheese.

Even something like ordering pizza can be complicated. Steve likes thin crust with pepperoni. Kylie likes thick crust with sausage. She does not like pepperoni. Sophie likes pepperoni and sausage, but only regular crust. I like pretty much anything except mushrooms, pineapple and anchovies. I love banana peppers, ham and onion pizza, but never get to order that because no one else will eat it.

"Me first!"

2011-03-27T03:01:00.001-07:00

I grow tired of hearing those two words: "Me first!"

Everything is a contest between Sophie and Kylie. Examples:

Who finishes their meal first
Who drinks all their milk first
Who cleans their room quicker
Who gets to take a shower or bath first
Who gets to pick out a bedtime story first
Who gets to pick out a dvd for the van first
Who gets to set the table first
Who gets to go first on any board game we play
Who gets to hug Daddy first when he walks in the door after work
Who gets their gummy vitamins first
Who gets their teeth brushed first

The last one - getting their teeth brushed- has gotten so heated that I literally had to make up a teeth-brushing schedule and post it on the refrigerator. And even so, the other one still gets upset when it is not their night to go first.

I try to explain to them "Who cares who finishes their milk first?" I try to explain to them that it's not a contest. Do they listen? No. To a almost 5 year old and a 7 year old, being first is very important, I suppose.

Please tell me they will outgrow this!

Spring (for a day)

2011-03-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

We had one day of spring, 76 degrees. Sunny. Just warm enough without being too hot.
And then the tornedo hit. Golf-sized hail. Flooding. The sky turned black. We had to lock the doors at work because they kept blowing open. And with the tornedo came the cold. It's 33 degrees and gray today.

But while we had one day of perfect weather I was able to get some photos of the flowers in our yard.

Too much stuff, not enough time

2011-02-26T02:18:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I feel like I am always running around doing errands, taking the girls to their activities, never slowing down.

Mondays are piano night. I work until 4:30, pick the girls up from daycare at 5, try to have a quick dinner, and then rush to piano lessons, which start at 6. Class ends at 6:30, then I have to start Kylie on her homework, get Sophie ready for bed, make Steve dinner.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays there are no evening activities, but I work both those days, so when I get home with the girls around 5 p.m. I have to make dinner, do dishes, laundry, pack lunches for the following day, etc.

Thursdays I am off work, but Sophie has dance class at 3:30. This is not a convenient time, as Kylie gets off the bus at 3:30. The dance studio is 5 minutes from home, so what I do is drive Sophie to class around 3:15, leave her with the instructor, and go back home to wait for Kylie to get off the bus. Then Kylie and I drive back to the dance studio to wait for Sophie's class to finish. We then drive home, eat dinner, do homework, and then Kylie's dance class starts at 5:30-6:15. After that it's Brownies at 6:45 - 8 p.m.

Nothing on Fridays.

Saturdays it's Chinese dance class from 1-2 p.m. It's across town, about 35 minutes away.

And then there's other things that are thrown in, like Kylie having to stand outside the grocery store for 3 hours with her Brownie troop, selling cookies. Or trying to earn an animal-care badge for Brownies by volunteering at a horse farm. And the PTO meetings, volunteering for the school movie night, bell choir practice at the church. It's never-ending. And, it will get worse once Sophie is older and starts doing more.

Again....

2011-02-26T02:12:00.000-08:00

I am sick, again. I think maybe it's still the same junk I've had, but now it's moved into my chest. My nose is constantly running, and I have a wet-sounding cough. Both my ears have been clogged for 3 days now. The worst thing is that I have been sooo tired and worn-out. I don't work Thursdays and Fridays, but I still have to watch Sophie those two days, which in a way is more difficult than being at work.

Today, despite being sick, I gave Sophie a bath, made her lunch, vacummed, mopped the kitchen floor, did dishes, 3 loads of laundry, mopped both bathrooms, cleaned one bathroom and cleaned Sophie's closet. I was able to take a short nap (30 minutes) while Sophie watched tv. I am just so tired. I hope whatever I have goes away, and that no one else catches it.

Wiseman, oops I mean Wisegirl

2011-02-26T02:07:00.001-08:00

The other day when I went to pick Sophie up from Pre-K, I found these photos on the desk. I cracked up. I love how serious Sophie looks in the top photo, hands clasped together. And the two band-aids on her forehead, there's a story behind that. You see, she used to suck her two fingers when she was sleepy, scared or nervous. Just in the past few months she stopped doing that, but now has the habit of scatching her forehead. She picks at her forehead until it bleeds, hence the band-aids. Her skin is not dry, I think it's just a bad habit, like how some people bite their nails. She's getting better about it, though.

Friday

2011-02-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

This week I received the professional photos I had taken of Kylie and Sophie at Chinese New Year's. I was pleasantly surprised that they cropped the photo a little (which it needed) and they made Kylie look like she was wearing lipstick and blush (which she was not).

The sicknesses have left our home for now. Sophie is no longer on antibiotics. My sore throat is getting better. Poor Kylie, she's always had asthma issues. At times, mostly at night, she coughs so hard that she vomits. Last night this happened. She threw up about 5 times. As soon as I would removed the soiled bed sheets and put new ones on, she would vomit again (which reminds me, I need to buy some more bed sheets). She finally fell asleep at 2 in the morning. Today she's better after a few nebulizer breathing treatments.

Sophie and I had fun today while Kylie was at school. We went to Grandview Outlet, which is in the building of an old grocery store. The store buys out salvage from places like Target, K-mart and Sears and drastically reduces the price. I had a store credit to use. Today I bought 3 pairs of shoes for Kylie, pajama pants for Kylie, pants for Sophie, a down vest jacket for myself and some shaving cream for $30! The shoes had the Target tag on them reading $14.99...I got them for $3.99 a pair. The vest had a $40 price tag....I got it for $2.99. I love a good bargain!

After Grandview, Sophie was hungry and wanted KFC. She had an entire order of popcorn chicken and three (yes, 3) orders of mashed potatoes and gravy! That girl can eat! Which is funny because she's so tiny.

After lunch we went back to the house to play "Preschool." When I was at Sam's Club once, I bought a preschool workout that Sophie loves to work on. Today she did several pages, and then I decided to teach her how to start reading. We started working on letters and the sound they make. By the end of our session, I taught her how to read the words: red, blue, cat, dog, go, good, egg, do, be & the. She's really smart. She already knows how to spell most of the colors, including orange.

Despite having Sophie with me all day, I got a lot done around the house, including several loads of laundry, completely washing down the inside of the fridge, cleaning the bathroom, and vacuuming. I also took her grocery shopping tonight. For dinner I made cheese-stuffed ravioli with tomato sauce and salad.

Tonight Kylie is at a birthday party/sleepover at her friend LiLi's house. For the party they are going to a pottery place to paint their own dish. Afterwards Kylie is supposed to sleep at LiLi's house. I say "supposed to" because Kylie's never slept an entire night at a friend's house. She usually gets homesick and we pick her up at night. We'll see how she does tonight. Most likely Steve will end up picking her up around 11 p.m.

Saturday???

2011-02-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Is today Saturday? I'm not really sure. I actually have to stop and think about what day of the week it is. Let's see, two nights ago was American Idol, so yes it must be Saturday. That is what being stuck in a house in the middle of an ice storm with two sick kids for 6 days will do to you. You lose all concept of time. On Wednesday, I did manage to wear my "days of the week" socks with the correct day on them. I kept looking at my feet to remind me that it was indeed Wednesday.

The girls are doing better. Their fevers have broke. They are still coughing, especially poor Sophie. This morning she woke up at 8:30, whined for about 10 minutes and then went back to sleep until 11 a.m. We ate lunch, went to the library and when we came home she was whiny again. She fell asleep on the couch, whining, and slept another 2 hours.

Kylie with her dance buddies, Chinese New Year's

2011-02-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

Kylie is first one on the left, first row, sitting down.

Sophie at Chinse New Year's

2011-02-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Years

2011-02-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the Chinese New Year's celebration sponsored by the FCC (Families with Chinese Children). It is held at a large high school and over 400 people attended. They have performances, vendors, a professional photographer, food catered by a Chinese restaurant, games and lots of crafts for the children.

This year Kylie performed a Chinese dance. For the past month she's been taking Chinese dance lessons. There are 9 other girls in her class. She started taking lessons late, but she caught on quickly.

This was Kylie's 3rd time at Chinese New Years and Sophie's first. Sophie loved everything, particularly the games because she won lollipops, stickers and tattoos.

Kylie in her dance costume.

Sick

2011-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

One month into 2011 and there's already been a lot going on.

I was sick a few weeks ago. Sophie was sick two weeks ago. Kylie has been sick since Saturday. And late last night, Sophie became sick again. I am lucky in a sense because this is the first time in the 7 years we've been a family that BOTH girls have been sick at the same time.

Did I mention there's an ice storm here in Indiana. Freezing rain turned to ice. Our neighborhood is hilly and no one can go up their driveways. Everyone's parked on the street. Some tree limbs broke off and are scattered on our driveway. Luckily there has been no damage to the house, and no power outages (though the lights did flicker several times).

Icestorm = no satellite reception = no television = hours and hours of "Bubble Guppies," a cartoon on Nickelodeon that I had taped. I think the girls have watched 7 hours of Bubble Guppies today.

It is pitiful when they are sick. Both girls have high temperatures. Sophie's highest was 104.1. Kylie's highest was 103.8. Both are coughing. I'm particularly worried about Kylie because she has asthma. Thank goodness I stocked up on medicines two weeks ago when Sophie was sick.

I missed an entire week of work. I told my boss that if the girls are still sick next week I'm still coming in to work...Steve can watch the girls, my shift is OVER!!!

Basement Bar - Before & After

2011-01-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Before (side view)

After (side view):

Before (the bathroom entrance is on the right):

After (the bathroom door was moved):

Basement Desk Area - Before & After

2011-01-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Before (note ugly hunter green floor tile and yellow faux-finished walls):

After (walls painted taupe, neutral floor tile). The desk is built-in with granite top):

Basement Workout Area - Before & After

2011-01-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Before (the area with the window is now a bedroom):

After (the doors in this photo are closet doors)

Basement Bedroom - Before & After

2011-01-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Before:

After:

Basement Hallway - Before & After

2011-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

Before:

During:

After:

TV Area of Basement - After

2011-01-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

Here is an "after" photo of the tv area of the basement. I wish I had taken a "before" photo. When we bought the house this area had berber carpet that was coming apart, yellowish faux-finished walls (one wall had fleur-de-lis stamped on it) and an ugly ceiling.

We replaced the carpet, ceiling and trim. We had the walls painted a color called "sand dune" which is much more relaxing. I think it turned out great.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

Blogger is still giving me problems, not letting me post photos.

1. Christmas was fun this year, although this was the first year without my father. We had my stepmother out to the house Christmas Eve to spend the night.

2. Normally we spend Christmas Eve at my aunt's (my father's sister) house. She has a standing roast and garlic grits. It is really delicious. This year, for the first time, we were not invited. She told my stepmother (didn't even have the courtesy to tell us) that she was not doing dinner this year. It made me upset and angry, but oh well.

3. This year we had lasagna for Christmas Eve.

4. We didn't hang stockings this year, for fear that La-La would knock them down. We placed the stockings in front of the fireplace for Santa.

5. The girls woke up at 7:30 Christmas morning.

6. Kylie's favorite gift was a Lalaloopsy doll, which she told me she didn't want. Sophie wanted one, so I figured I better buy one for Kylie. Good thing, too-- she repeatedly told me it was her favorite gift.

7. La-La enjoyed the cans of tuna from Santa.

8. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, sausage links, fresh pineapple and coffee cake. Sophie had three servings of eggs.

9. As I normally do, I took the tree down the following day.

10. All in all, a great Christmas.

Breakfast with Santa

2011-01-02T14:45:00.001-08:00

It's now 2011 so I'm late posting this, but my laptop was giving me problems with Blogger.
Here are photos of the girls at breakfast with Santa, at our church. They made ornaments from pinecones and lots and lots and lots of sequins.

Four days before Christmas...

2010-12-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

...and I still have so much to do!

None of the presents are wrapped. Yesterday Kylie discovered the large Barbie townhouse that we bought. It was supposed to be a gift to both Kylie and Sophie from Santa. It was in the basement with a blanket covering it. Well, one of the workers (Butch? Dave?) must have taken it off. Kylie told me about it. She thinks it's Sophie's gift, since Sophie specifically asked for Barbie dolls for Christmas. So, I suppose the Barbie house will now be just for Sophie, from Steve and me. I guess that works out ok, since I ended up buying Kylie several Wii games that Sophie won't play with.

Steve wants to know what to get me for Christmas. There's nothing I really want right now. The basement is a gift, but he wants to buy me something tangible. I don't need or want jewelry. I would like some work clothes but I'd have to try them on. I'd also like a pair of nice leather boots, but most of the stores have already sold out in my size (8). Maybe some evening this week I can go out to the stores and shop for clothes.

The basement is almost done! I can hardly believe it. The granite is in, the carpet is in. The painter is here this week finishing up. The only things left are the desk cabinets which were back-ordered, hanging the artwork and mounting the televisions on the walls.

Stair Railing

2010-12-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

The railing is up. Ignore the white tags on the spindles. I need to remove those. The wood still needs to be stained, but it's starting to look like a real house again.

La-La & The Tree

2010-12-13T17:01:00.000-08:00

As this is La-La's first Christmas, we were unsure how she would react about a Christmas tree. On Sunday we put the tree up where we always put it (to the left of the fireplace). We hung the lights on the tree, put up the ornaments, and everything was fine. Twenty minutes later, I was washing dishes when Steve yelled to me to look at the tree...La-La had literally climbed up the tree and was sitting in the branches. Then she started batting the ornaments and chewing on the branches.

Steve shooed her off, but a minute later she was back up the tree. This repeated a few times. We finally, sadly, decided we must take the tree down, as it was too unsafe with La-La. I'm surprised the tree didn't fall over with her laying in the branches. The girls were sad, but understood. We took down the ornaments, lights and garland, and put the tree back in the basement storage.

The following day at work I kept thinking about the tree, and how sad it was that the girls wouldn't have a tree during Christmas. At lunch I went to Lowes to buy some cabinet knobs and next to the knobs were baby gates. One in particular caught my eye. It was made of steel, originally $148, and on clearance for $37! I went back to work, read reviews online and saw that it received wonderful reviews. After work I went back to Lowes, bought it, dragged the tree and ornaments upstairs again, and set up the gate. This time I put the tree near the front door, so La-La couldn't jump over the gate from the fireplace.

La-La was perplexed by the gate and circled it for 30 minutes. She could stick her head through the gate, but not her entire body. She became frustrated and meowed loudly. After an hour, though, she was fine. Now she doesn't even go near the tree.

A Long Time...

2010-12-13T16:32:00.001-08:00

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted. A lot has happened with the basement. I will post more about that later. For now, here are some photos of the girls at the mall. Every year they ride the Santa train. They always sit in the front car so they can ring the bell.

Tuesday Nov. 30th

2010-11-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Words you don't want to hear from your contractor:

"Do you have a first-aid kit?"

On Friday -day after Thanksgiving- morning I was laying around the house with the girls, relaxing after a not-so-good Thanksgiving (more on that later) when Butch comes up the stairs and asks me for a first-aid kit. Apparently Zog was using the drill in the bathroom to tear up the concrete and sliced his finger. I gave him some gauze, neosporin and a band-aid. Butch was more worried about blood dripping onto the grout than he was about Zog. Zog left shortly after and didn't return until today.

I wish I could say that the basement is almost done, but it isn't. The ceiling tiles need to be installed, the banister needs to be put up, carpet layed, painting, granite countertops...the list goes on. The plumber messed up the bathroom due to him mismeasuring. This will cost our contractor an extra $200, not us.

Our painter's mother is in hospice so he hasn't been here. The cabinet company sent the wrong cabinet sizes. I just want this project to be done. At first they promised it would be completed by Thanksgiving. Now I wonder if it will be done by Christmas.

We have trim....

2010-11-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Today Butch and Zog arrived at 7:30 a.m and starting putting trim up. Steve called Ben (Contractor and stepbrother of Butch) to complain about Butch. It takes a lot to tick Steve off, but he was ticked. He wouldn't even tell me what Butch did to upset him, but when Ben came over today I asked Ben and he said that Butch told Steve he was an A-hole. Whoa. No wonder Steve is fed up.

I am so stressed out about the basement and 90% of the stress is because of Butch (5% is the amount of dust and 5% is because it won't be done by Thanksgiving like originally anticipated). The bathroom vanity was unboxed today...and it's damaged. One of the kitchen cabinets arrived damaged. We bought the wrong doorknobs and no one seems to sell the ones we want. The vanity lights are too large for the bathroom....the list goes on and on.

Oriental Wok

2010-11-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today after church the FCC (Families With Chinese Children) had a brunch at the Oriental Wok, a restaurant in northern Kentucky. It had been many years since Steve and I had been. In fact the last time we ate there was when we were waiting for Kylie's referral in 2004.

The food was delicious, probably the best Chinese food I'd ever eaten. It was neat to see many Chinese girls (and a few boys) running around the restaurant having fun. There was even a huge chair and cello (see photos) that they loved playing on. I can't wait to go back again. Kylie asked if we could eat dinner there tonight!

Thursday

2010-11-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

The shower tile has been laid. The laminate floor is being laid. The floor tile and shower tile still need to be grouted. Cabinets that were ordered are waiting for us at Home Depot. I am really really wanting this project to be over. Butch is great at what he does, but he is obnoxious and weird and makes inappropriate comments. I am going to tell Ben that I DO NOT want Butch to do the ceiling.

The basement is starting to come together, little by little. Dust is still everywhere. I've dusted down there a few times and finally gave up.

Basement Update

2010-11-13T18:26:00.001-08:00

The basement is still a work in progress. Thank God the drywallers are finished. Everything is coated in drywall dust, even items that they put plastic tarps on top of. Now the project is laying the floor tile, which is being done by Butch and Zog. Butch's real name is Butch, we're not sure about Zog. Zog seems nice enough, but Butch kinda creeps all of us out, even Steve. While they are good at laying tile, I am counting the days until they are done. We think they should be done with the tile and laminate by the end of next week. That can't come soon enough for me.

These are the bedroom double closets, with their doors that still need to be installed. It will be a rather large walk-in closet.

This is one of the bronze pieces that are put in throughout the larger tile squares.

The floor just off the bar/kitchen. It hasn't been grouted yet.

Pizza and a Limosine

2010-11-13T18:12:00.001-08:00

Kylie's school has a lot a fundraisers. Just this year (she's been in school a little over two months) they've sold coupon books, magazines, gift wrap, jewelry, t-shirts and pies to name a few. One of the incentives for the entertainment (coupon) books was that whoever sold at least 10 books received lunch and a ride in a limosine for their entire family.

Kylie (well, actually Steve) sold 11 books so we got lunch at Snappy Tomato pizza, where both girls got to go back in the kitchen and make their own pizzas. After lunch we received a 20-minute ride in a large white Hummer limosine. We had to share the limo with 2 other families but still had plenty of room. It was my first time in a limo, also Kylie's and Sophie's. After a few minutes riding in the limo Kylie said, "I thought it would be more exciting than this. It's like riding on the school bus!"

Tuesday Nov. 9th

2010-11-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

The basement walls are drywalled and being "mudded" which I learned takes 4 days to dry. It's only been about two weeks but it feels more like two months. I am ready for the basement to be done so I can clean the drywall dust off everything, put things away and resume a normal life. Today the painter called and said I need to pick out paint colors by TONIGHT. I've narrowed the colors down to a few but now I really need to decide, as he's buying the paint tomorrow morning. Eek.

I did buy a bedding set for the basement bedroom. I'm thinking of having the bedroom walls painted in a light gold color. Now I need to decide what color to paint the bathroom. So many things to do, and not enough time to do them. The house is a mess, the laundry needs to be folded and put away, and toys are scattered everywhere. I just need one full day without husband, kids and contractors to clean. When will that day come?

STRESSE*D !!!!!

2010-11-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

These photos pretty much sum up my life right now. I like order. I like things clean and I like things neat. I don't handle chaos well. Every night I return home from work with a new layer of lumber and tile dust covering every piece of furniture in every room. I return to pieces of drywall on my nice area rug, dead leave trekked in by the workers.

Monday was a particularly hard day at work. And Kylie had piano lessons at 6 pm. I had planned to make spaghetti when I got home - quick and easy. As I pulled into our driveway I could hear the sound of a jackhammer. The plumber's crew was tearing up the concrete for the shower. This did nothing to help the headache that had been brewing inside me all day. I turned on the faucet to fill the pan with water....no water. Plumber had turned it off. We ended up eating Subway on the way to piano.

I am so ready for this remodel to be DONE.

Tuesday

2010-11-02T18:00:00.001-07:00

Tonight the girls got their faces painted. Of course Sophie chose a turtle!

Christmas Shopping

2010-11-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I received the big Toys R Us Christmas catalog. Their sale started Oct 31st. They had a $10 coupon when you spend $100, $10 Toys R Us gift card when you spend $75 and I had a $3 gift card that they sent for Kylie's birthday. In addition, they had a lot of "free" stuff (like a free Barbie trunk when you spend $50 on Barbie items).

The store opened at 9 a.m. I arrived at 8:45 and there were already 10 people crowded outside by the door. When the doors opened a few people grabbed carts and literally ran through the store. It was crazy. I was prepared with a list and had gone there the night before (we were eating at the Olive Garden next door) so I pretty much knew where everything was located.

All in all, after coupons and such, I paid $234 which I think was pretty good for both girls. I bought the Imaginarium glitter dollhouse for both of them. Originally I was considering the Barbie Townhouse but it's made of plastic and received poor reviews (flimsy construction). Then I found this Imaginarium house which is made of wood, got great reviews, and is $50 less than the Barbie Townhouse! It has an elevator, stairs and furniture. I also bought some Barbie and Ken dolls.

For Kylie I bought the Animal Planet sea life since she loves sharks. Toys R Us gave me a free box of dinosaurs with it. I bought her the Barbie Fashionista carriage so the store gave me a free Barbie trunk (normally $24.99). I also bought her a Bingo game.

For Sophie I bought her a Playdoh kitchen set, a Lalaloopsy doll (THE hot toy this year, and she's been talking about it), and a tic tac toe set. I still need to buy stocking stuffers for them but for the most part their gifts are done!

Questions

2010-10-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

Questions asked of me by the girls....

Kylie: "Mom, when you were born did they have hair dryers?"

Sophie: "Do pumpkins poop?"

More Demo Photos

2010-10-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Basement Demo - Tiled Area

2010-10-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

Basement Demo - Bathroom

2010-10-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

Before:

After:

Dead Battery, Home Depot and Coke Chicken...

2010-10-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

...All three are things that I've experienced in the past few days and could have done without.

First, the dead battery. Kylie went to her first Girl Scout meeting last Thursday. They made sit-upons to take to a campfire the next night. Friday night we trekked out to a campsite that was in the middle of nowhere. After many phone calls, several turn-arounds and then driving a mile down a dirt path we found the campsite. Sophie fell asleep on the way so once we got there I sat in the van with her while Steve went with Kylie to the camp fire. After 30 minutes I traded places with Steve. Things were going well until 45 minutes later when Steve came down to the fire to announce that our battery was dead. I didn't have jumper cables in the van (stupid me). We asked everyone at the camp fire and NO ONE had jumper cables either! Not even the men. There were probably 30 adults there and no one had any. We ended up calling LiLi's dad Rex who drove out and helped us. We didn't get home until 10 o'clock.

Second, Home Depot. Our contractor called the other day and casually said, "Oh by the way, we're going to be starting on your basement next week so you're going to need to pick out all your material over the weekend." Um, ok. I had a general idea of what I wanted, but now I had to pick out specific tile, laminate flooring, lighting, faucets, door knobs, refrigerator, freezer and microwave.

The majority of my week was spent at Home Depot picking out materials, writing them down and later researching them on the internet. Some items I loved in the store, only to find out later on the internet that they got terrible reviews. I think I spent 8 hours total at Home Depot, just in the last 4 days. Then I spent another 2 hours typing up a spreadsheet to give to the contractor. Did you know there are about 50 shades of brown grout? I picked one called mushroom, which looked an awful lot like 10 other shades of brown. And did I mention that when Steve and I were at Home Depot loading up our three carts, someone walked off with one of our carts (filled with our stuff) so we had to pretty much start over?

Third, Coke Chicken. I recently purchased a crock pot to help out with dinners on the nights that I work. The first recipe I tried was Coq Au Vin (chicken in wine sauce). It was ok, nothing great. The second recipe I tried was Italian Meatloaf and it was by far the best meatloaf I'd ever eaten. Yesterday I tried a recipe called Coke Chicken. It was easy to make (chicken breast, can of Coke and a jar of barbeque sauce) and got rave reviews online, so I was excited. I came home and the house smelled good. Steamed some rice and took a small bite of chicken. It was rubbery and tough. Yuck. I threw it out and we ordered pizza instead :(

I hope this week gets better....

Farmers and Frosting

2010-10-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today was Sophie's Fall Party at school. They were instructed to dress as farmers. I was at a loss as to dress Sophie. Farmers wear overalls but we didn't have any, and they would be difficult to take on and off to go potty during school. We don't own any flannel shirts or straw hats or boots. Last night I went to K-Mart (the only store in our small town that sells clothing) and didn't have much luck. I did find a boys' red shirt with a little tractor embroidered on it. I also bought some rope to tie around her waist. K-Mart didn't have any farmer-ish hats but I remembered that Steve owns a John Deere baseball cap. I think it ended up looking pretty good.

For the fall party I signed up to bring orange frosting. I thought this would be an easy task. WRONG. I learned, after going to 4 different stores, that they don't sell orange frosting- not even during Halloween season. I bought a can of vanilla frosting and some food coloring. The result was PINK frosting, definately not orange-looking. The teacher later told Steve that all the parents in the other classes couldn't find orange frosting either.

This week.....

2010-10-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

....has been busy. Monday night we had piano and then a PTO meeting at Kylie's school. I was surprised that there were only about 10 people who came to the meeting. I brought (dragged) Steve to the meeting. I signed the volunteer sheet to help unload the truck for their Market Day. Market Day is when you buy food in bulk and the school receives a portion of the $. I plan on doing more volunteering especially after seeing only 10 people at the meeting.

Wednesday Kylie had to read an entire book in front of her class. She chose the book "Daddies Are For Catching Fireflies." She said she did well and that the kids liked the story.

Thursday Kylie had dance class and more homework.

This weekend we're going to visit Grandma Mary and Uncle Matt for lunch and to celebrate Kylie's birthday.

I have probably 5+ loads of laundry to do, vacuuming, raking leaves and grocery shopping to do. Yippee...(not!)

Misc Photos

2010-10-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

What Happens When You Let a 4 Year Old Pick Out Her Clothes

2010-10-10T18:23:00.001-07:00

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

On Friday night the girls went to "Trunk or Treat" at Kylie's school. Parents donate bags of candy, park their cars in the lot and pass out candy from their cars. There were over 400 kids there! It was crazy, but fun. People decorated their trucks and cars with fake spiders, monsters and music. Sophie was a ladybug and Kylie was Tinkerbell. They were adorable. They were worn out in the end, though, and fell asleep on the ride home.

La-La

2010-10-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

La-La has grown quite a bit since we brought her home in July. She is such a sweet kitty. She loves to sleep up against us, purring so loudly that it wakes us up. She has calmed down a lot since we had her claws removed. We love her so much. She has been a good addition to our family.

Hole!!!!!

2010-10-10T06:16:00.001-07:00

Progress....finally. I came home from work on Wednesday to find a giant hole in the backyard where they will cut out for a window in the basement.

Contractors are annoying. They pretty much show up when they feel like it. You never quite know when that will be. It's not just our contractor, almost all contractors have this mentality. You would think that getting money would motivate them, but it really doesn't. Oh well, at least we have a hole. That means they haven't forgotten about us.

Kylie's School Photo - 1st Grade

2010-10-08T18:01:00.001-07:00

Here is Kylie's first grade photo. Isn't she beautiful?

Blue Lagoon

2010-10-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

This will show you a better idea of the tile we're putting in the shower. It's called "Blue Lagoon."

Being "Consistent"

2010-10-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

There's something that has bothered me so I'm venting here.

I get so tired of people saying that certain things are done (or not done) a certain way because "we must be consistent."

Example #1: In Kylie's first grade class the students are seated in groups of 4 desks. If they are good that day they each get a sticker. But, if one student does something bad, no one gets a sticker. I don't think this is right. What exactly is the teacher trying to teach? Teamwork? Maybe. But I would think that if "Billy" goofs off and the other three kids don't get stickers, they will end up mad at "Billy" and with good reason. There have been many days when Kylie gets home and tells me that she once again did not get a sticker because of another child.

Example #2: At church we put Sophie in the nursery. Technically the nursery is only for kids up to age 3. However Sophie is very tiny for her age (there are 2 year olds who are her size) and doesn't misbehave. Her friend Kiersten is 2.5 and is taller than Sophie. Kiersten is in the nursery which is one reason why Sophie likes the nursery. She's gone to the 3-4 year old bible class but just doesn't enjoy it. The first several months we started attending church she would not leave my side, so just the fact that she now willingly goes to the nursery without me is a huge deal.

However, today I was pulled aside and told that Sophie is not allowed to be in the nursery anymore. I was reassured several times by this person that Sophie is "perfect" and plays nicely. I was told that there were some older children who were causing trouble so therefore Sophie cannot be there anymore "because we have to be consistent."

Sorry, but I think that's baloney. If an older child is causing trouble, simply tell the parents that the child must go to a more appropriate class. But to essentially punish Sophie because of another child's actions, all for the sake of "consistency"....well I think that's wrong. So, effective immediately I'll be either staying home with Sophie on Sunday mornings or I'll find another church.

Tile

2010-10-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Our next project for the house is to finish our basement. When we bought the house a year and a half ago, it had a partially finished basement with half bathroom. We're going to expand the finished area, make the bathroom a full bathroom with a shower, add a kitchen/bar, a bedroom and an exercise room.

We picked out the cabinets, narrowed the granite choices down to two and had to pick ceramic tile for the floor and shower. I looked at Home Depot and saw some tiles that I liked that were around $2 per square foot. Then in the aisle I saw a pallet of tile that was marked down to .57 per square foot that looked very similar to the $2 tile. I brought Steve back to the store and he liked the tile too so we bought them now. We probably won't need them for another three or four weeks but we were worried they might sell out. We had to buy 50 boxes (12 per box = 600 tiles!). That's a lot of tile. We picked up half yesterday and the remaining today and stacked them in the garage.

Below: This is only half of the tile.

Below: Ignore the wood floor. The tile on the bottom of the photo is the tile we bought. The blue mosaic above the tile is the tile we're using in the shower.

Silly Sophie

2010-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sophie, Dance Class, Week 2

2010-09-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Love the tattoo on her left wrist and silly bandz on her right.

Kylie Crashes

2010-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Kylie's been in school for a little over a month and we have settled into our routine. In the mornings she wakes up anywhere from 6:30 to as late as 7:00. If she wakes up around 6:30 she likes to jump in the shower with me and I wash her hair. If she's really tired I let her sleep until 7:00. She gets dressed and I get her breakfast, which she eats while watching television. As she's eating I brush her hair, then pack her afternoon snack and a bottle of water. We leave the house at 7:25 and walk outside to catch the bus. The bus picks the kids up right in front of our house which is nice.

On days that I work she takes the bus to aftercare and on days that I'm off she takes the bus home. She gets home around 3:30. I get her a small snack and start dinner. Many times she ends up falling asleep before dinner, like in this photo.

After dinner she does homework and is in bed by 9:00.

Sophie's Big Girl Bed

2010-09-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

Recently we decided Sophie needed a "real" bed. When we brought her home she was 11 months so we had her in a crib. When she was 2 years ago we switched her from the crib to a toddler bed, which used the crib mattress. She's now 4 and a half and we decided now was the time to get her a "big girl" bed.

We decided on a full size mattress, since that is the size Kylie has in her room. Then we chose the bedding. I wanted Sophie to have something that she could use for several years and not outgrow (no Elmo or Dora The Explorer). I found this comforter at Target and bought sheets in a bright pink. I think the colors look good with the paint color on Sophie's walls.

Originally we ordered a headboard and frame, but once the mattress set arrived and we saw how tall it was, we cancelled the headboard order. The mattress set on the floor allows Sophie to get up and off the bed with no problems. Later, when she's bigger, we'll order a headboard.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-09-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Now that the school year has started, Sophie and I have Thursdays and Fridays to spend together. Friday I took her to Chuck E Cheese. We got there right at 9:30 when they opened and we were the only ones there the entire time. It was really nice having the whole place to ourselves. I even let her eat an ice cream sandwich at 10 in the morning. After that we went to Toys R Us to buy Kylie her birthday presents. She is all about the Zhu-Zhu Pets which are battery-operated hamsters that run around in various tunnels. We bought her a few Zhu-Zhu items and then it was on to Target, where Sophie got to pick out bedding for her new "big girl" bed. There were limited choices, but we picked out a nice set. Her full-size mattress/box springs came Friday night. The colors of the bedding really look good with her wall color. I'll take a photo and post it later.

Sophie's Dance Class

2010-09-10T17:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Sophie had her first dance class. I was a little nervous because I didn't know how she would react. At the dance studio the adults have to sit in the hallway and can't see the class. After the class the teacher said she did great. I asked Sophie if she liked tap or ballet better, and she said ballet.

Haircut

2010-09-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I got my hair cut. It was getting long again and driving me crazy! It is now stacked in the back with long layers in the front (ignore the lack of make-up!).

The Many Faces of La-La

2010-09-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sophie used to draw pictures of turtles. Lately, though, she's been drawing pictures of cats, particularly LaLa. Here are just a few that she's drawn. The 2nd photo is LaLa in the litterbox!

Bananas!

2010-08-29T15:15:00.001-07:00

I found these banana costumes in a box marked .99 at the local discount store. Sophie is a little short for hers, but for $2 it was worth the giggle :)

Sleepover

2010-08-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Olivia, a girl in Sophie's class, invited her to her house for an all-night sleepover. Sophie was very excited and talked about it all week. We bought her a sleeping bag, suitcase and pajamas for the event. We dropped her off at 5:30 pm. That night around 10:00 Olivia's mom called. Sophie said she missed La-La the cat. We picked her up.

Guess who got her ears pierced???

2010-08-29T15:00:00.001-07:00

Kings Island

2010-08-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

Kylie (on the left) riding the roller coaster with her good friend Lili (on the right). They had a blast!

School Supplies

2010-08-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the girls out for school shopping. We'd already bought the crayons, scissors, pencils etc but I wanted to get Kylie a new outfit for her first day of 1st grade. We started out at Toys R Us to get Kylie a scooter. Her scooter had "training wheels" (3 wheels) and she was embarassed to bring it to Bike Day at school. We bought her a graffiti-looking Razor scooter in pink and purple that she loves. We also bought her a bookbag. Toys R Us had a sale where you get a free lunch box when you purchase a bookbag. And then Sophie wanted a lunch box so I bought her one so she wouldn't feel left out.

After that we went to Target where Kylie found an outfit she really liked. After Target we had lunch at Skyline Chili and I learned that Sophie loves a 3-way chili. By then it was time for a nap!

Kylie's first day of school outfit...

Sophie's Littlest Pet Shop lunch box...

Kylie's monkey lunch box....

Kylie's Littlest Pet Shop backpack....

2010-08-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

This week I really do have a good excuse for not posting. Sophie has been sick all week with high temps and headaches. Surprisingly she is eating well. I give her Motrin, it brings her temp down to 99 and within a few hours it's back up. And if you know Sophie, you know that she doesn't do anything halfway. When she gets a fever, she REALLY gets a fever. It's nothing for her temps to soar to 103 and 104.

I worked a measley 2 hours this week, keeping Sophie home every day. My thoughts were that this was another virus that had to run it's course. On the 7th day when the fever hadn't broken I brought her to the doctor. Poor Sophie tested positive for strep throat. Then the next morning (today) Kylie and I woke up with sore throats. Fortunately Kylie's doctor and my doctor called in prescriptions to the pharmacy without us having to see the doctors. The girls take their liquid meds for 10 days, and I take my pills for 5. Besides my sore throat, my head hurts, my body aches and I have chills. I was so miserable that I had Steve pick up the medicine for me.

La-La appears to have grown a little, at least it looks that way to me. She is a sweetheart...cuddly one moment and the next moment batting me with her paws and play-fighting. The girls are doing better around her, but they still make me put her in the laundry room when we eat.

Sophie is being a spitfire, more so than ever. If I reprimand her, even if it's something mild like please take your fingers out of your mouth, she screams, "This is a horrible day, they worst day ever." I hear that at least a few times a day. She also tells me that I'm not her friend, that she wants a new mommy and that I'm stupid. We're working on things with her, but she is very strong-willed. Luckily I am too.

I recently bought some Fiesta dishes that I've been wanting. My old dishes were fine, but I just wanted a change. I bought the dishes in scarlet, tangerine, chocolate, peacock and lemongrass.

Yummy chicken and veggie shish-kebobs

La-La about to pounce

One of her favorite toys is a magic marker that she bats around.

Kylie is still a little afraid of La-La

Fiesta!

Change of Plans....Sophie's Sick

2010-08-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

The four of us were supposed to go to Tennessee over the weekend to visit Steve's parents. Thursday night Sophie complained of a headache. Her temp was 100.7. I gave her Motrin and put her to bed. Friday morning it was 102. We agreed that she should not be traveling the 4-hour trip so I stayed home with her while Steve and Kylie went to Tennessee. Although Sophie was sick, I did enjoy spending lots of one-on-one time with her. We watched tv, went to Taco Bell for lunch (her choice), played games and slept A LOT. Today we slept until 1 pm! Her fever has not gone away, she is lethargic and I will be staying home with her tomorrow. Poor thing. I did manage to trim her hair after bath last night. As I was cutting her hair she said, "Mom, I'm afraid it's going to look stupid." It looks pretty good, considering I'm not a hair stylist.

On Friday night when we were in bed saying our prayers, Sophie said, "Dear God, thank you for making Jesus a baby because I just love babies. And kittens. And cats...but not dogs!"

Sunday....

2010-08-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some random photos. The first is Kylie practicing piano in our basement. She is really quite good, and catches on quickly.

The 2nd photo is LaLa playing with Sophie's Pet Shoppy turtle. LaLa likes to sneak up on Pet Shoppy and attack. Sophie thinks it's funny.

The last two are Sophie after bath. On nights that I wash her hair she demands a pink turban! She also likes the pink flower towel and wants me to pretend that I am looking for a pretty flower and I find her in the field (bath tub) and decide to "pick" her. What an imagination!

Life with La-La

2010-07-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

We've had La-La for a little over a week and she has adjusted well. She is very playful, loves to pounce, run and jump. She eats well. She had been sleeping on one of my old pink fuzzy slippers, so yesterday we bought her a soft kitty bed. We also bought a cat carrier, as next week she goes to the vet for her shots. She is so soft, cuddly and cute. Steve is crazy about her too. Kylie and Sophie....well, they love her from a distance. They are still scared because she loves to chase them.

Introducing La-La!

2010-07-19T03:11:00.001-07:00

We now have a 7-week old female kitty which we named La-La. Sophie's stuffed turtle named her that, but that's another story.

Recently the girls have been asking for a pet. At first they wanted a dog, but we quickly told them that dogs were too much work. Months ago we told them that "maybe" we could get a cat after Myrtle Beach. I saw a kitten in the daycare parking lot last Tuesday and would have taken him home, except for the fact that I was running late for work. It turns out that he belonged to the house next to the school; however this just fueled the girls' (and my) desire for a cat.

For the next few days I waffled back and forth about the possibility of getting a cat. I reminded myself about hairballs, litterboxes, fur and did I really want to deal with that again? My coworkers told me no, but I couldn't get the thought out of my mind.

Saturday we were at the local greenhouse buying a hydrangea when we saw a sweet white and orange cat walking around. The employee explained that she lives at the greenhouse. She looked very tiny so I was surprised to hear that she was 6 years old. That was the size we wanted. Our former cats were male and huge. We wanted a smaller cat.

After leaving the greenhouse I stopped by the vet across the street and looked at their bulletin. I saw several signs for free kittens but one said "4 kittens, female, held a lot." I also went to the gas station and saw more free kitten signs. Again I saw the one for females, held a lot. I left messages at three numbers. The "held a lot" lady called me back, she had one kitten left and she was the smallest of the litter. She said her 16 year old had gotten quite attached to her, so she was hoping someone would take her while her daughter was out of the house. She gave me directions to her house and she lived only 5 miles from our house. On the way there my phone rang and it was another kitten lady calling back. She was actually on her way to the SPCA with the kittens and asked if I could come right away. I felt bad saying no, but I was already on my way to look at the held-a-lot kitty.

I finally found the house after several phone calls to the lady (Tanya) and getting lost in a maze of mobile homes and cornfields. La-La was sleeping in a basket in the kitchen. Of course Kylie immediately fell in love and asked if we could keep her. Even Sophie seems interested. I thought about it a few minutes and said yes. We had no litterbox, food, nothing, as we got rid of all of those when Duncan passed away. We went to Krogers and bought $60 worth of stuff. Too late to back out now.

La-La appears to be enjoying her new home. Sophie is terrified of her (we're working on that) but Kylie loves her already.

Busy Summer

2010-07-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy summer for us. Kylie started piano lessons in early June. The teacher's name is Mr. Kling and he was the musical director at the school for over 20 years. He teaches piano in a studio over his garage, and he lives one mile from our house. He is a nice teacher and she enjoys going there every Wednesday. So far she has learned to play "Mary Had A Little Lamb", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a few chords and scales.

Other news....Kylie can now ride her bike without training wheels! Back in June she came to us and said she wanted to learn because in the summer she can bring her bike to school for "Bike Day" and ride in the parking lot. We spent a few frustrating days trying to teach her to no avail. We were holding onto the bike while running and it was hard on our backs. We gave up for the rest of June. Finally on July 5th I decided to try another approach. I simply gave her an initial push and then let go, and she stayed up! She was so proud of herself that we ran inside to tell Daddy (who was also proud) and Sophie (who couldn't care less).

School starts early this year, August 18th. This will be Kylie's first year at this school, and her first time riding a school bus. How can she already be going into the first grade?? I still remember holding her at 8 months old in China. Her "Family Day" is coming up in a couple weeks. She gets to choose the restaurant. She's always picked Olive Garden but this year she is choosing Buca Di Beppo's. We buy her a present normally but this year she wants to get a manicure at the nail salon, so that's what she's getting.

Sophie is doing well and is as spunky as ever. She continues to frustrate me and make me laugh every day. Some of the funny things:

At school one of her classmates walked up to her and said, "I'm taller than you" to which Sophie replied, "No, you just have a really big head!"
Another classmate told her, "You're shorter than me" to which she replied, "But I'm smarter than you!"
A couple of days ago she was rummaging in a box of doll clothes when she came upon a toy car. She picked the car out of the box and said, "What in the tarnation is this doing in here?" I asked her where she learned the word "tarnation" and she said she heard it in a commercial.

Although she can be very sweet and loving, she also knows how to manipulate. Lately when I discipline her she'll say, "I think you love Kylie more than you love me." Very smart.

This Saturday we're going to a Cincinnati Reds game. It will be Sophie's first game.

Myrtle Beach

2010-07-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Myrtle Beach was so much fun. The drive wasn't bad. The girls behaved very well and mostly watched dvd's. I read, played video games and slept. Steve did most of the driving. I was surprised how good the gas mileage is for our Honda Odyssey. It took two tanks of gas to get to Myrtle Beach.

Our days were mostly spent at the beach and indoor waterpark. One day we went to see Cirque Du Soleil. It was incredible. They don't allow cameras so unfortunately I couldn't take any photos.

Another night we ate at a Brazilian steakhouse. About 10 waiters keep coming to your table with various meats (filet mignon, lamb, pork, ribs, flank steak, shrimp, etc) on skewers and shave off pieces onto your plate. It was really really good and I think I ate more red meat that night than I have in the past 3 years. We ate there to celebrate Mom's birthday and the owner brought her out a chocolate cupcake with key lime frosting- yummy.

The weather was good, no rain except on the drive to and from, but it was HOT. The sand was so hot it hurt to walk on it. On our last day I broke down and rented a tent on the beach for us. We took walks in the early morning to see the sunrise, which was pretty.

The condo we stayed at was great. It had two bedrooms, living room, large dining table, two full baths (one with a whirlpool tub), full kitchen, and a washer and dryer. We had plenty of room to spread out.

We cancelled the dolphin-watching cruise due to the heat. Maybe next time. One night we went to Broadway At The Beach which is a large outdoor area with stores, games and rides. Kylie went bungee-jumping last year and went twice this year.

On Our Way

2010-06-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left the house at 7:30 a.m. to begin our drive to Myrtle Beach. My Mom (Nai Nai) and Papa Jim arrived the night before. The first three hours the weather was rough. Lightning, thundering and rain so heavy that it was difficult to see the road. Kylie was scared. I was too but didn't admit to it.

Steve drove, with Papa Jim sitting in the front passenger side. Nai Nai and I sat in the second row and the girls sat in the third row. This was the longest they had ever been in the van and they did great. They didn't complain, they played games, watched dvds and after lunch they slept.

We drove 8 hours and arrived in Columbia, SC where we checked into the Marriott Hotel. The hotel is very nice, with an outdoor pool. And the room was only $69, thanks to Priceline.com.

Once we checked into the hotel we went in the pool, then out to dinner at Red Robin. No one but me had ever eaten at a Red Robin. It was so good! After that we went to Target to pick up a few items, then to our room where I surfed the net and the girls watched The Incredibles.

This morning we leave for the remaining 4 hours of the trip. Myrtle Beach, here we come!

Kings Island

2010-06-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

This year we bought season tickets to Kings Island, the local amusement park. We went 3 times in one week. Kylie and Sophie even went on a roller coaster! One time we met up with Kylie's friend Lili and her parents.

Below: Kylie & Sophie driving a car.

Below: Lili and Kylie

Below: Sophie making silly face on the carousel.

Sophie enjoyed the carousel

Lili, Kylie, Sophie & Daddy on the roller coaster.

Lilie & Kylie climbing Snoopy

Lili, her dad, Kylie and Steve on the Woodstock Express.

Sophie on the swings.

Kylie is sick....

2010-06-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

It began Monday morning while I was getting ready for work. Kylie walked into the bathroom and told me that she didn't feel well, her stomach hurt, her head hurt and her throat was sore. She felt hot so I took her temperature, which was 102. I gave her Motrin and kept her home.

The Motrin would bring her temperature down for a few hours, and then it would spike back up. Tuesday she was still sick. Wednesday she was still sick. It's Thursday and guess what? She is still running a fever. The highest her temperature got was 105.5. I did not take her to the doctor because she had the same thing last November. I freaked out and rushed her to the ER at 2 in the morning, only to be told it was a virus and needed to run its course. Oh, and I had to pay $500 out of pocket for that visit.

This time I'm not taking her to the doctor or ER, but I am making sure she gets plenty of liquids. She's not eating much, but she is resting and will eat popsicles. She seems to be getting a little better each day, but is still feverish. Right now she's laying in my bed watching Alvin & The Chipmunks on dvd. Sophie is at school. I hope she doesn't catch this virus. Many children at their daycare have it.

Memorial Day Picnic

2010-06-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

For Memorial Day we went to the local park and packed a picnic lunch. Kylie and Sophie were excited about the picnic and told me what to pack. We had sandwiches, potato chips, carrot sticks, fresh pineapple chunks, juice boxes and Rice Krispie treats for dessert.

The park has a water park and luckily we got there early and claimed one of the only areas covered by a large umbrella. We invited our friends and we had fun. After the water park we went on a paddleboat, and then did face-painting and crafts. A very enjoyable day.

(That's a bandaid on Sophie's forehead. She got a bugbite and scratched it, causing it to bleed. )

Kylie's Graduation

2010-06-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Last week Kylie graduated from Kindergarten! Where has the time flown? I can't believe next year she will be in 1st grade, riding the school bus with high school kids (all the grades ride together, but the high school kids sit in the back).

Water Balloons

2010-05-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

The temperatures have gone well into the 80s. Last week I was supposed to bring 25 water balloons to preschool for Sophie's "field day." It ended up raining so I had a lot of balloons laying around. Since it was so hot, on Monday I filled the balloons up with water, put them in a cooler, and the girls enjoyed throwing them on the driveway and yard.

Bargains

2010-05-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

I love getting a good bargain. I wouldn't say I'm cheap, but I am frugal.

I know a woman who refuses to clip coupons. Once we were at Blockbuster renting a movie and the employee tried to give her a coupon to use for the dvd. She actually said to him, "No thanks. I know it will save me money, but I don't want to." That's crazy.

I clip coupons but only if they are for products that I normally use. I clip coupons for restaurants like Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Arby's, plus pizza coupons, that I keep in an envelope in my van. I enjoy going to Goodwill and yard sales, not only because of the good prices but because of the interesting items you can find. One time I was telling a neighbor about a shirt I bought at Goodwill and he looked horrified and said, "I would never buy used clothing."

I don't see anything wrong with clipping coupons or buying gently used clothes. My logic with coupons is, "If I saw $1 on the ground would I pick it up?" Yes. So how is this different than cutting out a coupon for $1 on an item? It takes me maybe 10 minutes to clip coupons every Sunday, and on average I clip at least $10 in coupons. Spending 10 minutes to save $10 is reasonable.

Guidelines I have for buying used clothes: no stains, rips, fading or missing buttons. Also, I won't buy used underwear or socks. A lot of times the clothes I buy at Goodwill are brand new with the original price tag still attached.

This weekend I got a lot of good deals. On Friday our church had its annual rummage sale. I bought:

-a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt for Sophie for .50
-brand new Gap shorts for Kylie for .50
-2 books for $1.50 (both brand new)
-school desk and chair for $2.50 total
-6 small Alvin & The Chipmunks toys for .50 total

But the best deal at the rummage sale was a woman's black leather jacket for $1! And the jacket was brand new, never worn, with the silica gel packets still in the pockets. I still can't believe I got a new leather jacket for a buck.

Saturday we went to Goodwill to look for antiques (Steve has his own booth at the local antique mall and is always on the search for good deals). We didn't find any antiques at Goodwill but they had a sale of 50% off all clothes. I bought:

-pair of brand new Levi jeans for myself $3.50
-Evan Picone dress for myself $3.50
-skirt for $2.50
-2 pairs of khaki capri pants $5 total
-2 books for $1.50

All in all, a good weekend, I spent less than $20 for probably at least $200 worth of stuff.

Fly With Me - Ballet Recital Video

2010-05-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

Video - Kylie's Recital

2010-05-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Kylie's Dance Recital

2010-05-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Kylie had her dance recital at the high school. Her class did two dances- one tap and one ballet. I may be biased but I thought Kylie was the best in her class. She was so graceful and looked very beautiful in her costume.

Sophie Gets A Haircut

2010-05-17T15:02:00.001-07:00

For a year I've been trying to convince Sophie to let me take her to get her hair cut. She occasionally would agree, but once we got to the salon she would change her mind. Her hair was scraggly and prone to tangles.

Little did I know that bribery works! When Nai Nai came to visit, she told Sophie she would send her a card and money if Sophie would get her hair cut. Sophie agreed and the next day she got a haircut. I love the bob, it frames her cute little face well.

(A few days later, when I wasn't looking, she grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped off a lot of her bangs. Her bangs are now quite shorter than in these pictures).

Derby

2010-05-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

On May 1st Steve and I attended a Derby Party (celebrating the Kentucky Derby horse race). It was held at the Vereastau house in Aurora. The house was built in the 1800s and is now rented out for weddings and events. It sits on a hill overlooking the Ohio River...the views are beautiful. The party was for charity, and there were a couple hundred people in attendance. I bought a straw hat to decorate but I ran out of time due to Sophie's birthday party earlier that day, so I just wore the hat without decorations.

There was a dixieland band, raffles, great food (fried chicken, bbq, etc) and even horse-driven carriage rides. Steve convinced me to do the carriage ride with him. It was a little scary when the horse started running, but still fun.

When I got home the girls decided to dress up in my shoes and hat!

Sophie's Birthday Party

2010-05-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Sophie had her birthday at Chuck E Cheese. This was her first real party. In the past we've always just had cupcakes at the house. This year she wanted Chuck E Cheese. We had the party at 10 a.m. which was perfect because the place wasn't crowded yet. Instead of cupcakes we had smiley face iced cookies from Buskens (Sophie loves smiley faces). Chuck E Cheese is great for parties because all the kids are contained and they can run around playing different games. And it's good for us because the kids don't trash our house! We ordered pizza, breadsticks and drinks, and bought 300 tokens for everyone. Sophie invited 5 children, which was a nice, small number.

For presents she received a turtle necklace, Dora The Explorer beach bag filled with a towel, mat and water bottle, Littlest Pet Shop animals, and lots of Ni Hao Kai-Lan stuff. She loved all of the presents.

Buca Di Beppo

2010-05-09T15:03:00.001-07:00

My mom came into town last week for Sophie's 4th birthday. On Wednesday night we celebrated at Buca Di Beppo's, an Italian restaurant where the food is served family-style. The restaurant is fun because while the hostess is taking you to your table, she takes everyone through the kitchen. There's one table in the kitchen, which I reserved. It was so much fun. The servers would stop by our table when they went to deliver a meal and would explain what each dish was. For desert they brought out 2 huge cupcakes for my birthday and Sophie's birthday, free of charge. In addition to the cupcakes we also had canolis for dessert (see middle photo). We had coupons too, and for all 5 of us to eat, it costs only $49 plus tip.

Sleepover

2010-05-09T14:47:00.001-07:00

Kylie had her first sleepover a few weeks ago. Her friend Mialani, age 5, spent the night and it was quite an experience. Mialani's mom gave Kylie, Mialani and Sophie gift bags filled with tatoos, makeup, stickers and chocolate.

All three girls were hyped up on the chocolate. The make-up ended up all over the bathroom counter (literally, as in, I had to scrub it off the counter), they stuck the stickers on the living room table. The only thing they didn't get into were the tattoos, which smartly I hid!

During the sleepover I learned that 4, 5 and 6 year olds only play with a certain toy for approximately 30 seconds, in which they get bored with it, leave it in the middle of the room and grab another toy which they play with for 30 seconds. After about 10 minutes the living room and bedrooms are trashed.

I learned that little girls like to change outfits. A lot.

I also learned that Mialani only likes the cheese part of the pizza. Doesn't like crust, just cheese.

I learned that Kylie missed me in the middle of the night and cried and woke Steve up, who layed on the floor next to her bed. In the morning he moved to the couch, where I found him covered up with Kylie's pink princess blanket and Sophie's turtle.

I learned that while Kylie may be ready for more sleepovers...her Mama isn't!

Oops!!!!!!

2010-05-05T09:23:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I updated my blog...or so I thought. I ended up posting the entries in my old blog. It won't let me transfer them to this blog, but you can view the entries at:

http://www.luckiestmama.blogspot.com

Roller Skating

2010-03-25T17:33:00.001-07:00

Misc Photos

2010-03-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Nai Nai's

2010-03-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we went to visit Nai Nai and Papa Jim in Crawfordsville. It was too cold to fish, but the girls had fun making pizza and looking for plastic Easter eggs inside the house.

They made sausage pizza.

Sophie fell asleep in Nai Nai's bed watching cartoons

Kylie read to Papa Jim

Sophie, Pet Shoppy & Kylie at breakfast

Kylie with Nikki the dog.

2010-03-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

I'm late posting this but Kylie lost her tooth a week and a half ago. Her first tooth. For weeks it had been loose and she was wiggling it with her tongue. The new tooth already sprouted out behind it. Finally it was very loose so Steve pulled it out. Kylie cried and there was a little blood but she was excited to use her new tooth fairy pillow. The tooth fairy left her $5 and a pack of her favorite gum.

The only time our house is quiet.....

2010-03-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

Kylie

2010-02-27T17:24:00.001-08:00

Today we were stuck in the house because Sophie was sick. Kylie wanted to put a little make-up on. I put just a little on her, and then she wanted to pose for pictures. I am constantly amazed at how beautiful she is.

The Adventures of Jing and Ying!

Comparing

I'm back!

More Sophie Photos

Fun with Sophie

La-La

Spring Photos

Tooth Out

Short-order Cook

"Me first!"

Spring (for a day)

Too much stuff, not enough time

Again....

Wiseman, oops I mean Wisegirl

Friday

Saturday???

Kylie with her dance buddies, Chinese New Year's

Sophie at Chinse New Year's

Chinese New Years

Sick

Basement Bar - Before & After

Basement Desk Area - Before & After

Basement Workout Area - Before & After

Basement Bedroom - Before & After

Basement Hallway - Before & After

TV Area of Basement - After

Christmas 2010

Breakfast with Santa

Four days before Christmas...

Stair Railing

La-La & The Tree

A Long Time...

Tuesday Nov. 30th

We have trim....

Oriental Wok

Thursday

Basement Update

Pizza and a Limosine

Tuesday Nov. 9th

S*T*R*E*S*S*E*D !!!!!

Tuesday

Christmas Shopping

Questions

More Demo Photos

Basement Demo - Tiled Area

Basement Demo - Bathroom

Dead Battery, Home Depot and Coke Chicken...

Farmers and Frosting

This week.....

Misc Photos

What Happens When You Let a 4 Year Old Pick Out Her Clothes

Trunk or Treat

La-La

Hole!!!!!

Kylie's School Photo - 1st Grade

Blue Lagoon

Being "Consistent"

Tile

Silly Sophie

Sophie, Dance Class, Week 2

Kylie Crashes

Sophie's Big Girl Bed

Chuck E Cheese

Sophie's Dance Class

Haircut

The Many Faces of La-La

Bananas!

Sleepover

Guess who got her ears pierced???

Kings Island

School Supplies

Change of Plans....Sophie's Sick

Sunday....

Life with La-La

Introducing La-La!

Busy Summer

Myrtle Beach

On Our Way

Kings Island

Kylie is sick....

STRESSE*D !!!!!