So Thankful

That about covers it! I am also thankful for my family not pictured here as well as my friends who are like my family. Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Disney Done

Lots of pictures, princesses, money spent and good times. That about sums up our trip. I will say I am not one of the millions that love Disney. I am also not one of the millions who want to go back. I don't want to trash Disney or those who love it. I just don't get it I guess. I looked for the magic but really didn't see it much. I did catch a glimpse in the girl's eyes however.

Time To Go

After months and months of planning, talking with the travel agent, reading books, making lists, sending emails, making phone calls... it is really time to go to DISNEY. The car will be here at 4:45 AM to take us to the airport to catch a 7:00AM flight. Notice the very early departure? I did not plan this part, but I'm sure the girls will be so excited that they will sleep like babies for the entire flight. I know, no way! A mom can dream right?

I am about finished with all packing. Just a few last minute battery items charging, then we are done. I still need to jump in the shower so I can have plenty of time to complete the shaving process. Didn't really think about all that till today. With the winter in full swing my legs have seen no sunlight nor a razor for some time. Guess that needs to end before the pool tomorrow or I might be taken for the BEAST and not BEAUTY. Plus I don't want to try shaving at 4:00 in the morning, so tonight it is.

I don't think I will be blogging while we are away, but I'm sure I will have lots to chat about when we get back. See you all then!

Stalking?

So I have come to find that I like Facebook for the simple pleasure of stalking. Well not really stalking, but finding people who don't know I'm looking at them. I was finding past students last night just to see what they are up to. You know as a teacher I want to know if they made something of them self. Some did and some still to be seen. it was hard not to "friend request" them. I figured that would be way to weird.

I have also come across other people that I have not talked to in 15 years. They are now my "friend". Really? Why now? Will I ever talk to them off this page? Was my life not good enough before they found me? It is not like I can deny a friend request either. But I do wonder why they looked me up.

I think one's goal on Facebook is to have the most possible friends listed.

I will say I have liked getting in touch with some high school or college friends, but other than that? Yup, main use is stalking. Kind of makes me wonder who is looking at me that I don't know about and why.

Need Thumb Help

So it has been about a week of operation "No Thumbs". I have to say the girls started really strong. I actually thought we might be able to kick this habit. Well, now not so much. It seems to be a lot harder than I thought it would be (and I thought it would be REALLY hard). B seems ok at school if I remember to put on the tape. At night even with tape, no chance. A pretty much asks for tape, only to pull it off to suck her thumbs. I am now finding strips of tape all over the house and car. I just don't know what to do about this. I figure lay off A and keep supporting B for any accomplishment no matter how small. I thought by Thanksgiving they might be finished, but now I am hoping Christmas.

I will say it is not all their fault. I am not super good at remembering the tape each morning. Today, for example, I had to hit up the travel first aid kit on the way to school for a band aid to use on B. I am not even sure of the last time A had tape on her. Guess I need to try harder too.

Can't Find Me!

A wanted to play hide and seek today. As you can see she still needs a little help on the "hide" concept. I will say she emptied the toy box and climbed in all on her own. If she bent down a little more than it might have worked. She does actually fit in the box. I was sitting right on the couch as she did all this and so I never really got up to "find" her. It was a great game :)

She loved this spot and hid here about 5 times. As long as she had her back to me so she couldn't see me, than I could not see her. Each time she hid in the box I laughed. Perhaps if I did not pretend that I couldn't see her it would have helped the learning process. No way! This was so fun for her I was not going to pop that bubble. Next time I will work on the hide concept...promise.

From The Backseat...

I took the girls to see High School Musical 3 today. I have to say I liked the first 2 much more than this one. There were a lot of scenes that I swear didn't really fit in the movie, or real life. A seemed to be out of her seat often dancing on the steps. She is so funny. B seemed to really like it. She was really happy to go, but of course not so happy to go without a friend. One day I swear I will win and make her happy. Hey, I can dream right?

On the way home I heard this from my sweet girls.

B: I have your doll.

A: Give it back or I will smack your face.

B: Like you can hit me.

A: If you don't give it back I will poke you in the eyeball.

Bye-Bye Thumbs

We, or should I say I, decided that it was now time to begin the "no thumb" transition. B still sucks most of the day and A is even worse. I figured that if I am working on B I might as well work on A too.

I bought fabric tape, the kind for band aids, and put a piece on each thumb that might be sucked. For B this means the left one. For A this means both! They both took to the tape rather well. I told them after 2 days they would earn a treat. I was so surprised with their job. B told me right away after school yesterday that she did not suck it at all. I was with A all day and she too did really well. She did not keep the tape on her thumbs, but still remembered not to suck them.

Day 2 was still pretty good. B was ready for the tape this morning and A was proud to show her teacher at school her taped thumbs. They both reported to me after school that they did great. A still took tape off at home, but did a good job not sucking.

The night now was the only thing in our way. I put tape on both girls tonight. B was a little unsure, but A told me she was taking the tape off. And she did. I managed to get one thumb covered, but the other got away. Oh well they don't suck much once they fall asleep anyways. I was surprised with the fact that B did not cry about it. In fact neither of them did. I will go in to check on the thumbs tonight, for I'm not sure B's tape will still be on.

I am in no way thinking we are done, but it has at least started out well. My goal is by the end of November to be off for good. This is when we go back to the dentist and I'd like to be able to tell him the girls no longer suck their thumbs. Wish us luck!

How Much is Too Much?

I continue to find myself going to the Trick or Treat bowl and eating. I am beginning to wonder how many pieces/pounds of candy is too much? I am not getting a tummy ache, so that to me means I have yet to eat too much, right? I am just dreading the day when the girls look in the bowl and yell out,"Where is all of our candy!" How will I get out of that one? I did go and work out yesterday, so I figure that gave me some room to eat. Plus I seem to only eat it during the day. I don't want it at night, so that is also a plus. Eating at night is really bad, right? The worst part is that I have resorted to eating the yucky stuff. The babyruths, the crunch bars... Not that they are "bad" just not the ones I really like. I will have to stop soon for all the real candy will be gone and all that will be left are the suckers and gummy body parts. I swear if I eat those I really will need help!

Anyone else in this position, or am I the only one gaining lots of Halloween pounds?

70 Degrees!?

I decided that today was way too nice to be cooped up in the house moving things back into the basement. I am not feeling well, but figured 70 degree days won't be here again for a long time, so I better use this one well. I checked in with the husband to make sure there was no reason I had to stay home. No stay at home mom for me today was the decision!

I took A to the zoo with a friend. They 2 of them had so much fun. All they did was run, run , and run some more. It was funny at times for A would be way ahead of me and Colin would be way behind. I was constantly saying, "A slow down." and "Come on Colin!" It was funny.

I am still amazed at how much energy A has. She was up at 5:30 AM (thanks to the time change) and has been going strong all day. I on the other had took a power nap while Dora was on before we had to pick up B from school.

It was super funny too listening to the 2 3 year olds talk all the way to the zoo. They sounded so grown up. Being that they are both the younger ones in their family their vocabulary is great. They would say things like, "Amazing!" and "Can you believe it?" I wish I could have taped it. They totally had full conversations with no interruptions from me.

It was a great day and the I'm so very glad that I did it. I might not think so tomorrow when I have lots more to do, but oh well.

Halloween

I know I am SOOOOO behind. Lots going on here, so I will do a few photos now. The girls had a great time this year. A really got into running from house to house getting more candy. We had a fun time going with friends around the neighborhood for over an hour. Don't really know what to do with all the extra candy yet.

B went as an Illini Cheerleader and A was Sleeping Beauty

Since I was going out with the girls this year I thought I'd dress up too. What to wear? Oh the football jersey Uncle Danny leaves here for northwestern games was a perfect pick.

The candy the girls brought home.

The pile now all sorted into like piles. I also went through and tossed all the "yucky" ones.