10 on Tuesday

I haven't done one of these in ages so please bear with me:

1) Ella continues to love first grade with her favorite subject being art. She finished soccer a few weeks back and really enjoyed being with her friends more than anything. She has Daisy's once a month and last week myself and 2 other moms were in charge of the craft (we had the petal of "sisterhood"). It was a lot of fun! She starts basketball in a few weeks which I can tell she is a little unsure of. I am impressed that she wants to try so many new sports.

2) Laney has school 4 days/week and has adjusted well to the schedule. Next year she has full day kindergarten so I was glad I could get her in 4 days a week to help the transition. She has a great teacher and my two goals for her this year (know her address and write her name in lower case letters) she has mastered.

3) Matthew is either cracking me up or driving me crazy these days. He never sits down and is always jumping, hitting, diving, clapping, etc. He brings smiles to so many faces when we walk around because they love seeing his energy (I think they smile becaues they are glad they don't have to take that ball of energy home). But today he did try and bite a few kids at the gym today when they had toys he wanted :(

4) The Friday after Halloween was the Pumpkin After Dark. It is a fundraiser for our PTO and let's just say, you throw alcohol in and people spend a lot of money. Alas, we were not one of them but we did win tickets to see the Nutcracker (which the girls were dying to see anyways) and tickets for a broadway show at the Aranoff. We were excited about our wins.

5) Next weekend we are going to see Wicked with 4 other couples. We saw Wicked when I was pregos with Laney so I am excited to see it again (especially now that I know the music). Also next weekend we are having the inaugaural Dinner Club. There is a TP Dinner Club but this dinner club is my 3 closest friends and their husbands. We are going to get together once every two months and rotate homes. I have wanted to do this for a while not only to see the ladies but I think it is nice for the guys to get together too. The 3 ladies that are in this group graduated in Jason's class and one other lady married her high school sweetheart too (he is 2 years older than me). Should be a great time! Oh and NO KIDS for either Friday or Saturday and this is the second weekend in a row where the kids are all spending the night out....that is a huge HOLLA!

6) The girls have been taking a ballet/tap class on Mondays. Is is 30 minutes of ballet, 30 minutes of tap. They have really enjoyed the time and I really like it for Ella especially. She continues to have low muscle tone so I think it is good exercise for her. She rarely smiles during class; you can see she is really trying hard and concentrating on the moves. On the other hand, Laney is jumping around and smiling like crazy. They are so different!

7) I just signed up to do Spirit Wear (t-shirts for the teachers and kids) for Laney's preschool. I am thinking what the heck have I gotten myself in to as everybody has an opinion. At least it won't last forever, right? But then I was asked to join the Parent Council which meets every few weeks to organize events for the kids and their families. I am really excited to be a part of the council (I asked if there was a secret handshake or something).

8) Our latest house projects are the mudroom and the downstairs bathroom. The contractor is coming in two weeks to lay the tile in the mudroom and hang the beadboard. We still need to order the cabinets above and finish the bench but I am hoping once we see the tile, we will have motivation to order the cabinets. What a decision! Since we are getting that floor done, we are going to get the downstairs bathroom floor done as well. We have been searching for a new vanity and toilet (wow, exciting) but luckily have found something we like.

9) Last week we made cookies for an after dinner treat. Ella was loving the cookies (um, she is my daughter) and when her's was done she asked Laney, "Laney, can I have one of yours'? I will let you punch me in the face."

10) Matthew=crazy...have you gotten that memo yet? Well the other day he was crying forever before falling asleep for his nap. Once he got up, I heard the cry out, "Mama, I am up. I am stuck." I went upstairs, opened his door and didn't see him. I knew he was in there but didn't see him right away. When this happens, he is often underneath his fire truck bed and can't get out (I don't know how he gets under there but somehow he does). But today was a new one for me. He was in his closet and couldn't figure out how to get out (mind you this is a small closet, so he had pushed away the boxes of wipes to create a 1 ft x 1 ft space to lay down in). Poor guy :)

 I have to give a huge shout out to Jason's parents and my parents who have done tons of babysitting for us in the past month (watching Matthew during the girls' dance class, watching Matthew and the girls over night, staying with the kids so we can go grab dinner). We are so spoiled by our parents!