More Birthday Pics

These are a few of the pictures that were taken at the party by Becca's friend Laney's dad. Thanks for the great pictures, Shawn!

Birthday Video

Happy Birthday Becca!!

Saturday was Rebecca's 3rd birthday. We had a party with all her friends, and BOTH sets of grandparents! Rebecca seemed very happy with all the attention and the gifts from all her friends. She had been asking me multiple times a week for the last 3 months (ever since Ben's birthday) when it was going to be her birthday! I think it lived up to her expectations. Below are some pictures from the party, and later I will post some video of her blowing out her birthday candles after I have had a chance to upload that. Happy birthday Becca!

I am the Princess

Crazy Hair

Thanks to the generosity of family, Ben has achieved his own personal goal in his school fundraiser -- getting enough pledges for the Crazy Hair prize.

Just a Little Hectic

It's been a busy weekend and I'm gearing up for a busy week! Weekend activities included Yom Kippur services (for Joel anyyway - I stayed home with the kids), a Break Fast at a friend's house, a birthday party (of the grownup variety, for one of our neighbors), Cub Scouts, the Panthers game (Joel went with a friend), and grocery shopping.

This week Joel is at a conference in Dallas from tonight until Friday night. I am left managing the kids, a full week at work, and a last-minute to-do list for Rebecca's birthday party on Saturday, as well as getting ready to host Mom and Dad from Thursday night - Sunday, and dealing with an altered school schedule because Rebecca is off Thursday and Friday for Sukkot.

Ben's doing a fundraiser for school that has required a bit of my attention this week as well, and homework (which was slow to get started) is now in full gear with spelling homework 4 nights a week, reading 4 nights a week, math homework 2 nights a week, and weekly spelling tests.

So- busy, busy! But looking forward to a great weekend with Mom and Dad and an awesome 3rd birthday celebration for Becca!!

Yogurt Happy Hour

Becca and her classmates Mira, Amelia, Sophia, Obi and Ben checking out the fountain after "yogurt happy hour" at TCBY tonight.

My Cute Little Cub Scout

Ben's first Cub Scout meeting was yesterday. His troop meets at the JCC and includes his friends Jared, Spencer and Harris. Joel's report about the first meeting was that it was rather disorganized and they really didn't do much. Hopefully that will change as things get in gear. The cub scouts do get to do some fun things, such as a weekend trip to Charleston where they get to tour a battleship, sleep on an aircraft carrier, and go to the aquarium the following day. Ben's already excited about that, though they don't do that until spring.

Movie Night

Last night our neighbors set up a movie projector in their driveway and the neighborhood kids (and adults) gathered to watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was a fun evening with popcorn for the kids and beer and wine for the adults, marred only by a couple of drops of rain towards the very end to make the grownups nervous. The rain never materialized, and everyone had a good time!

The Potty Train

A couple weeks back Joel and I were discussing needing to potty train Rebecca (from the financial perspective of not wanting to pay for diapers anymore). Rebecca overheard us and yelled, "NO! I don't want to go on the potty train!"

And, she really doesn't. Despite her third birthday rapidly looming, and despite the full cognitive awareness of the business one is supposed to do in the potty, she really wants no part of it. She'll pee on the potty when coaxed (though is usually not happy to do so) and a couple of times done Number Two on the potty (and she's even less happy about that). But she does not actually WANT to use the potty.

I have tried bribing her with M&Ms, fruit snacks, and Hello Kitty underpants, all to no avail. Yesterday I decided to put her in underpants for the day, since she was home with me and I was working so we weren't going anywhere. She managed to avoid an accident (with frequent bathroom reminders which she resisted every time) until later in the afternoon when she very quietly peed while sitting on my bed (and thereafter insisted she had not peed and nothing was amiss).

This morning her second attempt at wearing underpants ended when she pooped in her underpants (completely without warning and without telling anyone).

I know everyone says to relax - your kid won't go to Kindergarten wearing diapers!

But mine just might.

L'Shana Tova!

Ben spent the day at services with his dad and granddad at Temple Beth Shalom in Hickory (where Joel's dad is the rabbi). He reportedly was extremely well behaved and attentive - way to go Ben! Proud of you! I spent the day multi-tasking in grand style -- working, while watching Rebecca (who was home from preschool for the holiday), and cooking my first Rosh Hashana dinner - which turned out pretty respectably, if I do say so myself, thanks in large part to the invention known as the crock pot. L'Shana Tova everyone - have a happy, safe and healthy 5771!

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend festivities included a block party, an anniversary dinner for Joel's parents at Maggiano's, going to the Matthews Alive Labor Day festival, and hosting a barbecue with our friends Eric and Joanna & kids, where the boys used a sprinkler at the bottom of our slide to create what they named The Mud Pit of Doom... and then took turns sliding into it. And eventually, rolling around in it. Ah, boys...

The Mud Slide:

Curriculum Night

Curriculum night at Ben's school was last night. Joel expressed interest in going, so we agreed that he would go while I stayed home with the kids. He was under strict orders to pay careful attention so that he could report back to me on everything. He seemed to take this responsibility pretty seriously, even offering to take notes, which I told him was not necessary as long as he promised to pay attention.

So, as one might by now have guessed, he came home from Curriculum Night totally confused and not having paid much attention at all apparently (choosing instead, he admitted, to spend most of the time wondering why Ben's teacher is unmarried). He said Ben's homework schedule was so complicated that he had no idea what his teacher was talking about for most her explanation, found Ben's daily schedule to be utterly bewildering, and signed me up to volunteer in the classroom while neglecting to write down which day he'd signed me up for.

I told him he's not allowed to go to Curriculum Night any more to which he replied, "Don't you know I'm not good in classroom settings?"

No News

Not much has been going on the past week - we spent the weekend pretty quietly, the kids each had a play date (Becca on Saturday and Ben on Sunday), and since then we've been settling into the back to school routine. Ben has not been very communicative about first grade, except to say he likes his teacher. His general attitude in the mornings has been good, and he's had no complaints about going to school or getting on the bus, so I guess that means things are going well.

I do have some complaints about the bus - his bus driver yesterday was 30 minutes late (so much for those business cards he handed out the first day). He was fired or reassigned, not sure which, and a new driver was assigned to our route. He also got off the bus this morning and introduced himself, and promised to be on time (7:55). We'll see how that goes.

In the afternoons Ben rides the school bus home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and so far the bus has yet to arrive on time (3:02).The other three days he gets picked up by the JCC to go to their after school program. So far that arrangement is working out fine though I do usually have to remind him in the morning which bus he's getting on in the afternoon.

In other non-news, I am in the process of planning Rebecca's 3rd birthday party, I signed Ben up for Cub Scouts (but it doesn't start for another week or so), and I finally got my DVR all installed and set up, though it required two visits from DirecTV, one visit from Time Warner, and possibly will require a visit from our security alarm company because the Time Warner guy may have screwed that up -- not sure if our alarm is being monitored or not any more. I suppose I could set it off on purpose to find out, but that doesn't appeal to me for some reason...