Dorothy Marie

I can't believe my baby turned 5. We had such a great few days to celebrate her birthday. This will be part 1 or 2 or 3 or more. She is my baby after all. Marie came into this world 2 hours and 40 minutes late according to me! I always wanted a Halloween baby, so this year her b-day fell on Monday, so the weekend before was Halloween! We had a costume party at our house and had a great time with a few little friends who came. I had asked a friend I work with to do the cake for the party! As you can see from the picture, it was awesome! Down to the glitter on the fairy witch's wings! Carmen is amazing and the cake was the centerpiece of the weekend for days! It was a packed few days as Halloween is for most!

Thursday was trunk-or-treat!
Friday Marie got to dress up for the costume parade at school!
Saturday was her birthday costume party!
Sunday was official trick-or-treating which she didn't miss out on!

Oh my Dorothy Marie...

This little girl is just too much fun! I love having her at school with me this year and am so glad I made the decision to send her to Kindergarten early....she is such a hoot and full of personality. She can be the sweetest and the not so sweetest kid ever. She loves to hang out with me after school in the library, although riding the bus home is a favorite too and sometimes a hard decision to make, stay with mom, or ride the bus with Hannah....most days the bus wins!

Her teacher has been absolutely wonderful with her. Every day after school if the student stay on Green all day, then they get a "smelly". Well, one day I got an email during the day from Marie's teacher saying she punched a girl at recess and so she was moved to yellow and that she was very upset. I emailed back saying thanks and I'm glad she can learn these lessons when she's young, I'll make sure and be oh so sad....

When she got to me in the library I asked to smell her smelly, which I knew wasn't there. Then she proceeded to tell me in many more details then you all care to hear that the kids lied to Mrs. Tapia, she' didn't punch the girl. So I kept asking questions and trying to find out a little more. In the end the comment came out, "mom, I didn't punch her I pushed her!" So although she was not happy with the choice of words used and that the other kids who tattled messed them up, we had to have a discussion that even pushing isn't okay, even when the little girl kicks over your sand castle! Ah life lessons of Kindergarten, I LOVE them and can't wait for more! Needless to say she hasn't missed a smelly since!

Hanging out in the library!

Oh I'm a Bad Mom....

So, apparently this is what a two week old broken arm looks like!

Over two weeks ago I finally talked Brent into going with me to my gym and trying out this awesome class called Pump that our friend teaches. We dropped off the kids at the kid zone and went to class. Well, in the middle of the back track, the kid zone people came in to tell me Marie had fallen off the HUGE blow up slide and was crying and couldn't be consoled. When I got there I knew we were in trouble. She was screaming, holding her arm to her side and I could tell she was in a lot of pain. Brent dropped us off at urgent care and took the older girls home. The xrays came back negative for a break so they figured it must be nurse maids elbow, a dislocation, and the doctor would "pop" it back into place.

I left the room and let Brent hold her while they put her arm back together. It should have been a quick fix, I guess a lot quicker then I thought. But something just didn't add up, she kept complaining and whining and favored her arm a lot. I kept consulting with my brother-in-law, who happens to be an orthopedic PA. He finally said I should probably get it looked at.

So, two weeks later I made a call to the Pediatric Orthopedic who took care of her broken right arm over two years ago. They got me right in and when he saw her he said lets take another picture. In we went to the fancy xray machine. It's instant and you can see it while you are moving the arm, it's cool. He kept looking and moving her and could tell she was sensitive in a certain area and after about six pictures he found it, the new bone growth around her elbow where the fracture was. But now that it's this late in the game, he gives her a sling and says she needs to wear it for two weeks.

And then the real screaming begins. Oh the tears and the pulling and the just plain stubbornness. After about a half hour of letting me know she didn't want to do this and the nice medical student safety pinning it shut she quieted down and we went to the local chili/cornbread festival at the farm, but that's a fun story for my next post, once I figure out how to get the pictures off of my teeny bopper phone! (I hope I figure it out before breaks over or it may be Christmas before you hear about it!)

Cultural Enlightenment

So, I have no picture of this, wish I had a tape recording, but I'm sure you can all imagine it in your mind because you've had similar moments in your life. (My friend Lezlie, actually had a similar moment with my very child in the very same location a few months ago! Lezlie, you should get a kick out of this one, much worse then Rie not liking strangers hair!)

The first wasn't that bad, we were grabbing a quick bite through the drive-through on our way to school, yes we were running a little late and the man at the window was black and Marie is asking in her really soft (that's total sarcasm) voice why his face is all dark. I mean for heaven's sake we live in Arizona, not Utah County, but this man was very dark and it was very interesting to Marie. I'm trying to keep her quiet and act like I don't know what she's yelling for the man to give me my card and our food, and then I told her that it's not really polite to yell about why someone looks a certain way and if she wants to ask something then she needs to ask me in a whisper. I don't think she's ever used a whisper in her life.

But here's the real kicker. That same day after school we went to Sam's Club to pick up some food so we wouldn't have to go through the drive through every morning, noon, and night! We had just passed the cleaning isle and were rounding the corner into the bakery isle and I think I saw the woman first, but it didn't take Marie long to notice the very strict Muslim woman shopping in the store. I have actually never seen this strict of a dressed Muslim woman before, eye wholes cut out of her veil with glasses over, every little bit of her was covered. Well, Marie says, "Hey mom, look she's wearing her Halloween costume." In her very QUIET voice. And yes, she just kept going, "Mom, why is she wearing her Halloween costume." I tried to explain to her quietly and quickly that it wasn't a Halloween costume which she replied very loudly that it was because she had a head thing on and a long dress and it was all black and covered her face. Oh, I just wanted to say something to the woman like we really don't live under a rock, but I didn't want to offend her even more so than my three year old probably had.

So, I guess we'll be learning about different cultures and religion in our home so that it's not such an oddity and novelty and doesn't embarrass the crap out of me when we're in public!

Rie is Three

Rie turned three a little while back, don't tell her how late i was blogging about her. We had a monkey party for her. She delivered invitations to her guests, she put one on Hannah's bed, Emily's, Mom and Dad's, and Grandma and Grandpa's. It was great! I had her go up the stairs for each one, it gave us an activity for a few minutes! Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Pete came into town to celebrate Halloween and Rie and Emily's bdays! It was nice to have them there, they were really the only ones Rie asked to invite. I have always loved Halloween, so three years ago when I went into labor on Halloween morning, I couldn't have been happier, then labor stopped. I had a doctor's appt. that afternoon and he checked me and said I would be an easy induction, but that he just sent his last induction of the day over to the hospital so I would have to wait until the morning. I actually went into labor again on my own while Brent and my dad were out trick or treating and we finally left for the hospital after putting the kids to bed. At 11:40 the anesthisiologist (sp?) was putting the epideral in and I said, "I wanted a Halloween baby," and he replied, "lady, I don't think you're going to make it". Much to my unhappiness, Rie came into the world 2hrs and 40 minutes late by my account. Every year everyone just says celebrate it anyways on Halloween, or still have a Halloween party, but it's a whole new month. And it's the day after all that sugar and hype, I'm still bitter about it if you can't tell, but not bitter about the fun little girl that arrived that day! She is such a fun kid. Her big brown eyes, loud voice (she has NO volume control) and way too much personality. I get such a kick out of her and she is my baby. I still love to rock her at night and call her my baby. She is my baby, she's not potty trained, it's one of my greatest failings of a mother so far! She yells at people all the time that she doesn't like them, and a few other not so nice three year old things. But I am in love with this child. I love that I get to hang out and drink "juice" aka coke, with her for breakfast. I love that I only have to go grocery shopping with her. I love that she likes to dress up and wear fun clothes. I love that she eats instant oatmeal with me in the mornings, and she likes to eat two packets just like me. I love that she has a thing for music and dancing. Oh how I love Rie! Happy belated bday baby! p.s. she got a big wheel for her bday from the birthday money from grandma great and grandpa great and grandma and grandpa noel. Brent was so excited to get it, I think he wished it came in his size. She is pretty good at riding. I don't have a picture yet, just one of Emi on it, it was the hot item!