Riley

This morning, while making Conor's bed, I found a note to left to him by his secret admirer... it read "Conor, I think you are the best person in this whole family. Love, your secret special family member"...

Swift kick in the pants

I came across this today... a lesson for how to be with your children. Makes BIG things (such as the crappy economy, AIG's woes, wondering if there will be a presidential debate, the fact that nearly every gas station in metro Atlanta is out of gas and the ones that aren't are charging a ridiculous amount) seem unimportant and small... and the LITTLE things (like Conor, Riley, and Quinn) seem very wonderfully big and important. Just as it should be.

Be there. Say yes as often as possible. Let them bang on pots and pans. If they’re cranky, put them in water. Realize how important it is to be a child. Go to the movie theatre in your pajamas. Read books out loud with joy. Invent. Remember how small they really are. Giggle. Giggle a lot. Surprise them. Say no when necessary. Teach feelings. Heal your own inner child. Learn about parenting. Hug trees together. Make loving safe. Bake a cake and eat it with no hands. Go find elephants and kiss them. Plan to build a rocket ship. Imagine yourself magic. Makes lots of forts with blankets. Let your angel fly. Reveal your own dreams. Search out the positive. Keep the gleam in your eye. Write letters to God. Encourage silly. Plant licorice in your garden. Open up. Stop yelling. Express your love. A lot! Speak kindly. Paint their tennis shoes. Handle with care. Always remember ~ Children are miraculous

E-Bay

Conor is now smarter, cooler, and more computer savvy than myself (as if this was ever in question). He placed a bid on e-bay for what he claims is a very rare pokemon card. I'll have to take his word for that, because I'm a bit of a pokemon illiterate. So when he won, he paid Josh the $.92 and his card is now being shipped.

Circus Fun

Some pictures of the gang at the circus Friday night...

TGI (almost) F

It's hard to believe it's only Thursday. This MAY have been one of the longest weeks I can remember. For now, we think Josh's job and company (AIG, as most of you know) are safe. We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but we are thinking positive and taking it one day at a time.

On the homefront, it's been great having the kids at home for a week. We laid low most of the time, although the last 24 hours have been a little nutty. Yesterday Riley received a call from her friend Madison asking if she could play. A couple hours later, they called to see if she could also spend the night. As we were driving over there to drop off a "sleepover bag" for her, we passed Conor's good friend's house and saw his dad outside. We stopped to chat and ended up taking Jax with us to dinner and then back to our house to spend the night. This morning we traded kids (took Jax home and picked up Riley) and headed to the park to meet other friends. Conor and Riley each had a playdate after the park too - Conor's friend Jared came home with us and Riley went home with Jenna. I finally have only my three back at my house, and we're looking forward to a nice weekend together, which includes Halloween costume-shopping and a surprise trip to the circus tomorrow night!

Potty training is not over by a long shot, but we're getting there... one day at a time (I guess that is my mantra for the week).

TGIF (close enough!)!

Still potty-training...

Yep, we're still potty-training. I think this may be a slow and laborious process.

The silver lining (which has NOTHING whatsoever to do with potty training but has me smiling)?!? The WIGGLES are coming to Atlanta! The joy!

As many of you know, Quinn is well... a Wiggles-aholic. He is going to be Murray for Halloween (his favorite wiggle, because he carries the guitar), and now he will get to see the Wiggles sing and dance, live in concert. Seriously, I'm so excited for him, I can hardly stand it. November 16 (yes, also the same day as my half-marathon!), Wiggles - here we come!

Potty-training

It's fall break for us this week... no school, no plans. This is a good thing for us, as we have taken WAY TOO many trips in the last year (Disneyworld, Hilton Head, TX, NC, Ohio - twice... lots of traveling!). So my goal for the week (besides some down time, obviously) is to potty train Quinn.

Conor and Riley were a snap. Both of them were potty trained within weeks of their second birthdays. Quinn is now pushing 2 years and 5 mos and no success. But I'm determined (and my determination is now closely rivaling Quinn's stubborn refusal). Yesterday was semi-successful... and I'm hoping for an even better today. I'll keep you posted. And I'll have to share a picture of Quinn in his cute little underwear. I'll save that for tomorrow.

Just in case...

There is a family in our neighborhood who I don't know well but see at the baseball fields and the pool often. I attaching a link to their story, just in case anyone would like to help them.

http://www.davisgoestochina.com/Home_Page.html

Introducing - The X Monkeys

Today, I heard a lot of noise coming from Riley's room. Loud noise is not uncommon in this house, so unless somone is screaming in pain or crying, I tune it out for the most part... until Riley yelled downstairs "Mom, come up. We have a surprise for you." So I went up.

I was then introduced to the X-Monkeys, which is apparently a new band consisting of - you guessed it - Conor (on drums - really overturned books on the floor and some snazzy Aerosmith drumsticks) and Riley (lead vocals). They currently have two songs, neither of which is long but both are creative and cute.

But my favorite part was that after my private concert, Conor looked at me and said "We've decided on a money jar"... I wasn't sure what he meant by that but he proceeded to explain that this way they wouldn't actually CHARGE for performances, but when we have company at holidays, etc. they would just leave their money jar out. Grandparents beware!

The weekend

It was a baseball-filled weekend for our family. Saturday was Conor's first game. His team lost (which was a bummer!), but Conor scored two out of their four runs. Sunday was "girl scout day" at the Braves. So Josh stayed home with Quinn, and I (bravely - no pun intended) took Conor, Riley, and one of Riley's brownie friends, Madison, to meet up with a few other girls from her troop for a long, HOT, sunny day at Turner Field.

Destination: Relaxation

As many of you know, I like a good getaway as much as the next person, but I also have an "I miss my kids and worry about them and wish I could kiss them goodnight" complex, which has often made it difficult for me to unwind and enjoy myself. In light of this, Josh and I decided to revamp our original 10-year anniversary (in January) plans to go somewhere far, far away and exotic on a long vacation, for a couple shorter, mini-vacations over the year. Our first is this week. We're heading out on Wednesday for the Ritz Carlton Lodge and Resort at Reynolds Plantation in Lake Oconee. I've heard it's beautiful. I look forward to 48 hours of pampering. We're staying on the Concierge Level, I have a half-day at the spa booked for Thursday, and we have a private "chiminea (am I even spelling that right!?!) dinner" booked one night, where you have your own personal chef and relax in adirondack (again with the spelling, what do you expect from an english major?) chairs by the fire while your meal is prepared. Other than that, I plan on doing some reading, lounging by the pool, going for runs on the grounds, and just plain relaxing (with several phone calls to check on my wee-ones of course)... baby steps.