Coming up for air!

We survived Christmas 2006 in grand style. The girls received more presents than 2 children should ever be allowed! Santa was very good - as were 4 very doting grandparents and 2 aunts and an uncle. Unbelieveable. Brenna was thrilled with her Polly Pocket Cruise ship (and a gazillion more Pollys), several board games, a pair of Heelys, an Irish step tote bag and personalized shirt, and a ton of new clothes. Molly was more than pleased with her Rescue Pet Wake Up dog, Moon Sand, board games, Littlest Pet Shop playsets and a new CD/karaoke radio for her room. And that was the tip of the iceberg. We also got a keyboard which has turned into a fun family gift as we've all had fun playing with the demo songs. Now if only someone could actually play!

My parents were here for nearly a week and we were all sad to see them go. Hopefully they'll use the JetBlue giftcards we gave them to come back again soon! In the meantime, I'm still finding shreds of wrapping paper under furniture and trying to put things away and eat my way from under all of the food in the house. All in all - it's exactly how a holiday should be!!

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Christmas Eve

Off to bed before Santa gets here! Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Gingerbread Houses

Lots of candy, lots of icing, lots of mess but lots of fun!

Fa La La La La !

Last night Brenna and I went caroling with 4 of the Girl Scout troops at her school. Picture more than 70 girls and families trooping through the neighborhood behind the school! After all of the gorgeous days we've had, we of course got the first chilly night in a long time. First stops were the convent and the rectory (that's Brenna in the Brownie vest right in the middle of the group) but the best part was that the faculty of the school was having their Christmas Party in the neighborhood we were caroling in. The girls really enjoyed performing, but the hot chocolate and cookies afterwards were even better. This was the first time we've been caroling and it really helped to put us in the Christmas spirit!

Ready for School!

Don't bother rubbing the sleep out of your own eyes because you are seeing correctly - Brenna and Molly wore their pajamas to school today! No they didn't dawdle too long or just simply forget to get dressed - it was Pajama Spirit Day. Let's just say that there was a level of excitement in that school that I've never seen. Even the teachers got in the spirit and wore jammies and robes. It was a cute sight - especially at morning arrival!

In the afternoon they were having an event in the gym to culminate in a huge team pillow fight. The Reds vs. Whites (school colors) tossing dozens and dozens of pillows back and forth across the gym and when the timer stops, the team with the fewest number of pillows on their side wins. I'm sure it was hilarious to see all these kids - big and little together, having fun. No matter what, these two girls were excited to go in today!

Christmas in Killarney . . .

well, it was actually Arlington, VA but it felt a bit like good ol' Ireland at least! Brenna's Irish dance school held their Christmas Pageant tonight and she was wonderful. It was their first time performing and only 8 of the girls were able to attend. Not to mention that they haven't had class in 2 weeks so they weren't exactly well-rehearsed. Nevertheless, they did a great job and we couldn't be prouder. Baby, take a bow!

Hair

Molly did my hair for me last night. Putting all of those clips away reminded me that I needed to pick up some hair accessories for stocking stuffers.

Or do I? The girls do have quite a few hair things already . . .

A big basket of headbands . . .

Not one but TWO racks of hair bows and ribbons . . .

Many baggies of clips and barrettes sorted by color (there's more -I notice you can't see the orange, black or white bags!) and don't forget the bigger bags of scrunchies and one devoted to navy and plaid hair things that match their school uniform . . .

But believe it or not Brenna still needs some brown things to match her scout uniform. Boy, do I love being the mom of hair-obsessed girls!

Tough Day Evidently

Molly's unflappable teacher bring the kids out to the main school door every day at dismissal as the parents wait outside. She'll go to the bottom of the steps and one by one she'll say "I see Cathy's mom, you may go." and she helps the kid down the steps before she dismisses the next person. Today was different though. The poor woman stood at the top of the steps and said "If you see your mom, your babysitter, your carpool driver or anyone who looks even remotely familiar to you, just go with them!"

Molly didn't have any comments but clearly it was not a good day.

Unlucky Coincidence?

The girls have a older nun, Sr. Jeanne, for music class at school. She's not particularly patient with the fidgety little ones and thus some of them don't really enjoy her class as much as they should because she spends so much time correcting them. Molly's best little friend has been crying about going to school on music days. Finally last Thursday her father went in and talked to the PreK teacher about it. Nothing the teacher said or did was reassuring to the poor kid so the teacher finally said they didn't have to go. Since PreK doesn't perform in the Christmas Concert (this Friday) and the rest of the school was having extra rehearsals in preparation, the teacher decided to take a break. So she cancelled their music class that day and said she would talk to the kids and to Sr. Jeanne the next day (Friday) about how to make things better.

Didn't they announce in church today that Sr. Jeanne died yesterday! YIKES! Yes, she was older but she seemed in decent enough health. After all, she taught all last week and took part in the Immaculate Conception holy day Mass with the kids on Friday. What a shock to everyone. Now this poor kid's mother calls me feeling guilty. Lesson to all: Stay on this kid's good side! Dean said to make sure we get her a really nice Christmas present so she doesn't decide to dislike us! I hate to joke about it, but it really is an unfortunate coincidence. Brenna was sad but mentioned that many kids didn't like Sr. I really didn't want to leave her with the idea that she was always irritable so I explained that perhaps Sr. hadn't been feeling well for a long time and that's why she may have seemed so grouchy. Brenna seemed to feel better about that so I'm glad. I feel peaceful about her passing also because Friday was a major feast day for our Sisters at school. At Mass that day all 10 of them (can you believe we have 10 nuns!?!) renewed their vows andsang a beautiful song in Latin. It was very touching and powerful to see them all together in such a prayerful way. It's nice to know she passed just after making such a profession. It will be a big loss to the school and naturally the concert this week is cancelled. School will be closed Thursday for the funeral. Brenna wants to go but Molly (who I wasn't planning to bring anyway) says she will only go if her friend is going. Uhhhh . . . I doubt that.

Last practice

Brenna's Irish Dance class had their last practice this week. Next Sunday they will be dancing in her teacher's Irish Christmas pageant. She is so excited! This is the first time these kids will have performed. The teacher has a studio in Virginia so most of the dancers come from there. Since this is just an afterschool class, Brenna won't need a school costume for this so that helps. We did finally get her official Irish dance shoes (ghillies) though. She's convinced she dances much better wearing them!

So now she's just counting the days until the pageant and begging me to curl her hair for it. Oh Lord!

Christmas Tree Assembly

Despite our regular trips to the farm and other such nature excursions (did I ever tell you about that Girl Scout hike? You know, the one where I volunteered to be the one who drove the snack to the end spot? Let me just tell you how broken up I am that our Scout Unit's big Encampment is on First Communion weekend!) anyway, despite our family's love of the great outdoors, we have generally resorted to having a fake tree each Christmas. This is due in large part to A) the fact that Dean and I had a real tree our first Christmas together but the stupid thing leaked and ruined the hardwood floor underneath and then fell over on Christmas morning breaking what few ornaments we had and B) the fact that Dean likes to leave the tree up until . . . February practically and a real tree gets pretty darn spindley by then.

So the assembly of our Christmas tree is a big tradition here. Here you see Brenna lending a hand and Molly lending an opinion as she (and the festively-attired elephant again) watches while snuggled under the Christmas tree skirt. Clearly manual labor isn't her thing.

Elephant

Molly and Elephant 2003

If you've met Molly, then you've met her elephant. The once soft, pink critter is now far more floppy and worn (despite being one of 2 that rotate through the wash. There were 3 but one went missing long ago - exactly why I bought 2 spares when it became clear she loved this little thing!) but it far and away the favorite of all her "friends" (that's what we call her gazillion stuffed animals - she's an addict! Brenna always had a doll and Molly always has an animal friend)

Anyway, she was helping me unpack some more Christmas decorations today when she suddenly scooted off to her room and that was the end of her help. I didn't think any more of it until later when I saw Elephant on the coffeetable. Clearly, as part of the family, he too must get decked out for the holidays. She must have found the little hat in the decorations and claimed it for her best buddy. She's just as pleased as punch with it. I particularly like that it's big ears are stuffed up inside that teeny hat!

December?

Where is the time going? It seems like I just flipped a calendar page, and then here it goes again.

We've had a busy week with school and scouts and dance and everything in between. Dean was away the whole week (nothing like coming in Sunday evening and heading out again Monday morning!) so the girls are happy to have him back now. They are getting antsy to put up all the Christmas decorations so I guess it's time to face the facts and get everything put up. With temperatures in the 70's last week it was impossible to think about then! Of course once the decorations are up all I'll think about is all the shopping I still have left to do!

More Christmas Party

Cousins galore!

Partly because I'm still unloading the gazillion things the girls got in their multiple party bags and tripping over stuffed animals (I wish someone had taken a photo of Auntie Dottie buying a cart full of 60 stuffed penguins!) but I have a few more party pics to share. I actually have 200 pics but I'll only share a few!

Some of the best are of the kids' faces when the characters came in. Our wonderful party planners (my mom and aunts!) rented costumes of Rudolph, Frosty, Spongebob, an elf, and a penguin and some of the "big cousins" were willing to sneak out and dress up (I think they enjoyed it actually. Especially Diane who as the penguin learned the Happy Feet dance and donned her tap shoes to dance for the kids. It was fabulous!) for the little ones. Earlier there were games for the kids and plenty of music for singing and dancing. How could we not have fun?

Our family did this type of party over 30 years ago when we "big cousins" were small. Few of us remember it though and the photos actually show some rather frightening characters (phew, good to see how much the costume industry has improved in those years!) and it has become a bit of a family joke. Did that party really happen? We see the pictures but funny none of us remember it . . . So it was decided last year that the new generation of Coleman cousins (31 families have descended from the 10 Coleman siblings. Only some of them were able to attend else we would have had to rent a convention center!) needed to recreate the event.

My girls really enjoyed the whole thing start to finish and I was thrilled to see them playing so well with cousins they don't often see or some they had never met before! The only disappointing part was tearing them away from it all. Brenna loves being with Nolan and Johnny and also discovered a great friendship with Jenna. Molly and Ariel were tearing up the dance floor and couldn't understand why they couldn't have a playdate the next day. The nearly 500 miles between us is really a problem. I hope as the girls get older, they can use email and phones to stay close to their cousins. I was blessed to grow up near mine (geographically and emotionally and nearly a dozen of us were born between 1970-1972) and I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. I can only hope the same for my girls . . .

Molly and Rudolph (Shhh! It's really cousin Lisa's boyfriend Angelo. She wouldn't pose for pictures with any characters so we had to tell her who this one really was. Can you tell she's excited? She has a big 'ol crush on him. :) (see the 8/22 entry)

Then there's Brenna and Santa

and then the girls with the ever-popular Uncle Don and Auntie Kristin


Cutie Cousins!

Thanksgiving

Backtracking a bit . . .

"A Freeman Thanksgiving" takes shape at Auntie Dottie's each year. At a mere 37 people this year it didn't seem overly crowded! Here you see the 4 tables being assembled - though we have parted ways with the custom tables that Uncle Al used to build to accommodate the yearly gathering! We won't even discuss the year that Auntie Dottie decided we all needed to eat at one table - picture folding tables snaking end to end throughout the house. We weren't necessarily in the same rooms, but we were at one table!! And in our family it's okay that at 40 yrs old, cousins still have to sit at the kids' table because after all - there's a kids' kids' table!

Every time I start to think that the 10 hr. drive north is becoming too much with the kids in school and such, I think about how much fun we have and I can't imagine missing it. Dean and I actually flew in from our Australian honeymoon the night before Thanksgiving 1996 and still made it to the dinner table, albeit bleary and very jetlagged, because I just couldn't bear to break tradition. The day may come when we do have to miss the festivities but until then . . . pass the potatoes, pass the dirty carrots (after all, what is a yam?), pass the broccoli, pass the peas and onions (who even eats those things!) . . .

Family Christmas Party

I need to rest before I can adequately describe today's festivities! So many of the children and grandchildren of the 10 Coleman siblings (my grandmother) gathered to usher in the holidays together. What a great time. Family everywhere, food everywhere and fun everywhere!!!

The girls had a ball with their cousins (first photo but they all didn't fit!), I had a ball with my cousins (second photo), and the "grownups" (third photo) had a ball watching the cousins enjoy the cousins!

I cannot thank my mom and all of my aunts for arranging today. I know they had fun with it but it clearly was a great deal of work too. We will not wait so many years before we do this again though - it was too much fun!

Gobble Gobble!

We're off tomorrow to enjoy the holiday in Boston and stuff ourselves silly!

The girls are excited to see all of their cousins both at Turkey Day

and at the Mega-Christmas party on Saturday.

Molly's turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Picky Eaters

More and more lately I find the girls becoming pickier in what they will and will not eat. In an effort to get them to eat new things we made a chart for the fridge and they get a check mark if they try (which means 2 bites - one to taste and one to decide) a new food. After 10 checks they can pick a special treat.

Molly got her 10 checks last night and so we started discussing her treat. Brenna suggested that a lollipop which Lord knows is no special treat for these kids but if Molly was willing I was okay with it! Nope, Molly says the lollipop isn't what she wanted.

"I was thinking maybe a ride in a limo," she says.

WHAT?! Where on earth did that come from and how does she even know what a limo is?! And did she really think that's what I had in mind as a treat for ingesting maybe a whopping total of 2 oz. of food? This kid is insane. I could see her getting limo on the brain if our teenage neighbor just had a limo for a dance or something but no, we haven't seen or mentioned a limo in ages! I never know what's going on in that Molly-brain!

Investiture

Which is a fancy way of saying Brenna is officially a Girl Scout Brownie now. There was a little ceremony at school last night for parents to present the girls with their pins. Brenna was chosen to carry the Brownie flag during the procession so that made her quite proud. As you can see from her vest, she's been working hard and already has earned 5 "Try-It" patches. Nearly all of the girls in her class participate in scouts so it's a great activity for her.

Eek!

You know the news isn't good when the PreK teacher leads the kids out the door and seeing all the parents clustered together to claim their little darlings says pseudo-brightly (and with a very audible sigh), "Well, tomorrow will be new day!"

That can only mean things didn't go well today. I however didn't get called over to the steps for "a chat" so whatever the ruckus was, I guess Molly wasn't involved (too much anyway)!

That said, Miss Molly was standing to the side with the class' #1 alpha-male (who is ALWAYS in the time-out red chair according to Molly) and before I know it, they have planned a playdate at my house, for today, and his mother was asking me if it was okay. Mind you I had not 2, not 4, not 5 but SEVEN children here yesterday so I'm still not thinking straight! With the teacher's words ringing in my ears, I nodded blindly and home we came. Actually Molly and Quinn played very well and his mom picked him up after 1.5 hrs so it was fine.

Now Brenna is playing with his sister at their house so the process will repeat when I go to pick her up in an hour. I hope they're behaving!

Open House

(Molly's in the pink at the Lego table - I didn't take the photos so this is the best I have)

Today was Open House at the girls' school and I always help as a guide in showing prospective families around the school. The principal reminded me of a story from last year that I thought you'd get a kick out of:

I was asking Brenna all about her first day in Grade 1 with Sr. Ritamary (who has a rather "old school" approach to teaching.) She went on and on about all the neat things and commented that her desk was in the front row. When I asked where Sophia's (her best friend) desk was she replied,"I don't know." That seemed odd so I asked where Mary's (another good pal) desk was. Again I got, "I don't know."

When I asked how she could she could possibly miss two of her best buddies in one small classroom, she said with a sigh, "Mom, I guess they're somewhere behind me. But I don't know exactly where because Sister said we're supposed to keep our eyes in front and I sure didn’t want to look back there!"

That was my first clue that she was gonna do just fine that year!

Dancin' Fools!

Today was "Visitor Day" at the girls' dance classes. I always enjoy watching them and seeing how their classes are doing. Both really enjoy dancing and are doing great. This is Molly's second year and she's an old pro. It's Brenna's second year at this studio (4th overall) and her first year with jazz (which Molly is very jealous of - she wants to try that so badly!) Her teacher announced today that she will take them to a dance convention in January - not to compete but to take some classes and just see the show. Brenna is excited so I hope it's something we can do. I think it might be a bit overwhelming for her but if she wants to try it . . .

Four older dancers from her teacher's other studio in VA will be dancing in the Macy's parade next week. Two years ago some of her girls danced on the Great Wall of China. Clearly this teacher does well, but what I like best is that this place is very low pressure, low stress. She wants the girls to dance for the love of dance regardless of how "good" they are. I'm just glad the girls' like it so much!

Parent Conferences

We had Parent/Teacher conferences for both girls on Friday.

Molly's was first. Her lead teacher simply said, "She's perfectly wonderful. If I had a class full of gems like her I'd come skipping to work every day!" Dean looked at me and I looked at him and then we had to break it to the teacher, "You have us mistaken with another family, we're MOLLY'S parents." She cracked up. Come to find out Molly is a lovable little Miss Personality who everyone wants to play with, is confident and careful in her work, is obedient and just a joy to deal with. We don’t know who’s file was actually read to us since that simply couldn’t be OUR Molly, but her teacher seemed thrilled with her “Miss Molly Oh Golly.” This teacher is very structured and comes off as being a toughie. The kids love her though. The secondary teacher who is in the class every day as well is a more soft-hearted lovey woman and Molly also has her completely wrapped around her finger. I'm just glad to see my little gal so happy to be in school and doing good work.

So buoyed by that report we went to Brenna's class. The news there was equally positive. Brenna is a good girl, easily stays on task and follows the rules, is generally as quiet as a mouse, is kind to everyone and is right on target for her academics. The only even slight recommendations were to work to get her to participate more now that she's comfortable and to encourage her to write more slowly to make her penmanship a bit neater. We can't complain about that!

It was nice to hear glowing comments about both kids. We're all very happy with this school and the girls' teachers this year really seem to have identified our kids personalities and have classrooms that will be great for our kids. Let's hope it continues!!

If my kids like school so much . . .

why do they look terrified in their school pictures???

I can't say I really like them (not that I think anyone is ever supposed to like school pictures, but still!) This is part of the reason I still take them for birthday portraits. At least you can preview and select those.

Molly however thinks hers is fabulous. She whipped it out of her school bag announcing "It's super cute, Mom!" When I asked her what specifically she thought was so nice about it, she replied "Oh, pretty much just that cute kid who's in it!" It's a shame she has such poor self -esteem. :) I think I'll have hers redone because they should be able to get her to smile at least ! Brenna doesn't want hers redone because this one shows all of her missing teeth. Every one of her previous school pictures has that "deer in the headlights" look as well so I don't know that a retake would be much different. Either way, these are the ones that go into the class composite photo. Oh well.

Sorry-looking turkeys

With October finished and Thanksgiving looming, I thought I'd share these pictures of the turkeys we've had our eye on at Homestead Farm. Here they are in late September:

And then this is in late October:

We sure hope Auntie Dottie is planning on cooking the whole flock to feed the crowd she hosts because these are some scrawny looking birds!! Maybe Molly was right and we should give her candy to the farmers - it might help plump up these birds!

And let me just tell you, these are the ugliest creatures I've ever seen (well, except for that vulture I once saw smack dab in the middle of our street but that was like something from a cheap horror flick! Ugh!!!) When they get stressed (they live in a pen that gets visited by dozens of screaming kids every day - when AREN'T they stressed!) their heads turn bright blue and their tail feathers spread. They're still ugly though. But they taste good. ;)

Still Plodding Along . . .

I think we're all still coming down from the sugar high of Halloween. It's been a tough few days. Both girls are a bit "off" - Brenna with a bad cold and Molly with a bad attitude. We'll muddle through somehow.

This will be a somewhat relaxing week though since the girls are off school for 2.5 days. Tomorrow is Election Day so Dean will be at the polls all day since he's now a big Chief Judge. He really likes it - and I think it makes him less nostalgic about not being on Capitol Hill so much anymore. The girls have the day off since their school is a polling place but Brenna has a field trip to the National Gallery of Art with her Brownie troop an Molly has a birthday party so we'll still be out and about. They are out again with a half day Thursday and Friday off for Parent/Teacher conferences. Wish me luck with those! I'm expecting good reports, but what you see is never what you get in this house! Either way, we can all use the rest so we're just going to lay low. We all need a break.

I've been keeping busy with a bunch of things at school, but mostly helping with the Girl Scouts. This is the first year we have scouting at school so there's a big learning curve while we all learn the best way to do things. Right now I'm coordinating a special program for the Grade 2 & 3 Brownies. There is a religious medal they can earn and I'm moving things into overdrive so they can get everything done and receive their medals at the Scout Sunday Mass in Feb. Our way-cool priest and one of the sisters will help me with the wrap-up sessions but right now it's all me. Soon I'll be shifting gears though and plunging headlong into the school auction again. I got sucked in to that venture 2 years ago and secretly enjoy all the hoopla. I do all the business end of things from the data entry to the catalog. Basically every sheet of paper related to the auction comes through my computer. It's a lot of work but I get to work with great people, get to spend a lot of time at school (like I'm not there anyway!) and generally feel like I'm putting some small part of my education to work again! After 7 years of filling sippy cups and repairing Polly pockets, it's nice to know I can still balance huge spreadsheets! Plus if I look busy enough, Dean won't send me back to work just yet!

Halloween Pictures

Here are my troops. They had a great time at the school pizza party and parade and then came home to trick or treat in the neighborhood with friends. It was a nice warm night so they didn't have to worry. The New Englander in me has a hard time adjusting to costumes that need to accommodate a sweatshirt underneath or a winter coat depending on the weather that particular year. We've had some nice nights the past few years.

They had school today (public schools were closed though) so they finished up at a decent time and came home to sort their loot. Molly gave all of her Butterfingers to her teacher (much to Dean's dismay - he loves those!), donated about 6 pieces to the candy drive and most of the rest she packed up for the farmers. ;) Brenna reluctantly parted with a few pieces for the candy drive. She may be a sweet and generous child in general, but all bets are off when there's candy involved! It was a fun night - especially because all the neighborhood daddies did the walking this time!

I leave you with this picture of my friend's 3 year old. You have to know that this child has a thin blonde bob hairstyle in real life. I nearly wet my pants when I saw her !!!