Charisa Darling

Archive for July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

One year ago...

Vaughn was done with the taking of the pictures.

Vance was worn out from all the cooking we made him do.

And Justin was in India sending me pictures of how his laundry came back to him at the hotel, hinting that he'd like it that way at home.

Two nights ago I made Indian food, let's be real and call in Western Indian food. Three out of four enjoyed it, so I'm calling it successful.

It's Friday and that means I'll be getting fingerprinted in just a couple of hours. I should have them get Vaughn in the system too while I'm there. It will save time with the booking process when she gets older and gets caught for doing something unfavorable.

Have a great day!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

May or May Not

I may or may not have eaten a Cadbury Egg from two Easter's ago today.

Vance's class goldfish may or may not be swimming in the big ocean in the sky.

Two things that I do know? Project Runway starts tonight and it's also pizza night.

Since we've got a letter P thing going on, I may or may not keep it going by giving the kids leftover Pudding Pops for dessert.

I may or may not be having one because I may or may not have eaten a Cadbury Egg from two Easter's ago today.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Spaghetti Sauce?

Last Saturday our tomato plant kicked it into overdrive and I now have 24 of them just sitting on the counter. And by the looks of it I have about 5 that will be ready to be picked tomorrow.

Guess I can make pizza sauce and freeze it. I'd like to make my own spaghetti sauce - does anyone have a good recipe?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pudding Pops

I have a special place in my heart for Pudding Pops and Bill Cosby. There's lots of recipes floating around for pudding pops, so I tried one out. Not the same, but not bad either. It was a super quick dessert that Vance and I whipped up in no time.

The recipe is from Cakespy. You should click on the link to see the cute image of the pudding pop, Mr. Cosby, and the recipe.

We didn't have paper cups and small popsicle sticks so we used plastic cups and big sticks. Worked just fine.

As you can see, Vaughn thoroughly enjoyed hers.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Christmas in July

Yesterday morning Vance woke up singing Christmas carols. Last night the movie he chose for us to watch was a Christmas movie.

I think we're all ready for a break from this awful heat.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Today I sent Vance to school in a t-shirt that is two sizes too big* and Vaughn wore her princess dress into the grocery store.

Cheers to not worrying about the small stuff today!

And a birthday shout out to my man Carter who's celebrating the big 5 today!

* I ordered Vance a "school spirit shirt" and it's too big. The shirt was sent home yesterday with a note to wear it today. Vance was pumped to wear it and I couldn't not let him just because his mommy has many pet peeves, one of which is when little boys shirts are too big. We'll all live. In the meantime, I'll have to figure out how to order a new one.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Toddler Taming

It's been all about Vance lately. Here's a Vaughnie story:

After wrestling her out of the library and into her car seat yesterday I emailed Justin to report that I was going to be Googling "Tough Love for Toddlers" in hopes of finding a nearby program. Surely there has to be some kind of baby boot camp out there. We'd send her away and she'd come back well behaved and calling us ma'am and sir.

No such luck. Turns out no one wants unruly 2 year olds.

The above mentioned bad behavior was triggered by a Fancy Nancy book. She didn't want to give it to the librarian to scan and definitely didn't want to let it go in order to be buckled into her car seat. Apparently, for those who don't know, Fancy Nancy is the epitome of all things girlie. While the words are definitely over Vaughn's head and more geared to older girls, the illustrations caught her eye. Fancy dresses, flowers, BUTTERFLIES! - she's into all that stuff.

Volatile Vaughn, we lovingly call her. One minute she's in a princess dress flitting around the room and next minute she's taking all aggressions out on Vance. We don't understand it either. We just know that we're at the stage now that if we let her get away with ANYTHING it will only come back to bite us. So, we're enforcing all rules with iron fists in hopes of taming our toddler.

Maybe she'll become a field hockey phenomenon. She likes to wear cute skirts and at the same time feels comfortable running and swinging a stick in her defense. Colleges give scholarships for field hockey, right?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I would like to announce that the glitz and glam of packing Vance's lunch and snack is over for me.

Thank you.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Not much news here.

Vance is still liking kindergarten and the second and third day of riding the bus to school went smoothly.

Vaughn is confused about where Big Bro has been and often asks about his whereabouts. It's cute.

Vaughn is back to taking afternoon naps so having a few hours to myself in the afternoon is strange. I told myself that I'd start working out again when Vance started school, so on Friday that's what I did. And I overdid it. One should not do sprints when one has not worked out in 4 months.

I'm always more than ready for pick-up time. I'm excited to hear about his day, however that's the last thing he wants to talk about. It was nice at his old school because we'd get a daily report sheet that tells exactly what they did that day. All we have now is what Vance remembers to tell us. And that's pretty shaky.

It's dark and thundering here. Our hibiscus tree has finally bloomed and it's yellow. I was hoping for pink, Justin was hoping for white, Vance wanted blue, and Vaughn just wants more bacon. Happy Monday to all!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

First Day of Kindergarten: We Survived

Obligatory First Day Front Door Picture (FDFDP):

I'll admit it. Wednesday I was A Mess. A big ol' weepy mess. I got it out of my system and today I was okay. I held it together quite well if I do say so.

Vance was excited until we arrived at the bus stop. We saw the school bus coming down the street and the tears started flowing. We did all we could to pump him up but nothing could stop the tears. My dad offered up his lucky quarter so Vance could keep it in his pocket and rub it if he got nervous. Still tears.

The bus came and he was very reluctant to get hop on. We introduced him to the driver and gave him a loving push up the stairs and watched him find a seat.

We then ran (Ran!) to get in the car and beat the bus to school. We made it and saw him get off the bus (he wasn't crying anymore, phew!). Here he is getting his hand marked, sort of an ID thing.

The nice man in the white shirt offered to take a picture of all of us. (See, Kindergarten isn't that bad!) And then the principal herself walked Vance and 2 others to their classroom. (Proving the very system that we were so wary of actually worked! We didn't lose him!)

We picked him up after school and he had a smile on his face. He hopped in the car and said, "My teacher has a fishbowl! And a fish!" and "I didn't have to use my quarter at all! Well, only on the bus, but I can give it back to Grandad! Maybe I'll keep it and use it again tomorrow though." He had a good day and wants to go back tomorrow.

We celebrated afterwards and met his buddy for snow cones. (A first for Vance, who like his mother, does not like them. Too sweet!) And of course pizza for dinner, because it's Thursday.

We're officially parents of a kindergartner. I can't believe it.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I went to sleep last night feeling okay with this whole kindergarten thing.

Then I woke up at 3:00 AM thinking about Vance riding the bus and about his motion sickness. "Why have I not thought about this before?" "What happens if he gets sick?"

And it was all downhill from there.

I've been up since then, watched Norm Abram make a side table, a few info commercials, a recorded Real Housewives of New Jersey, The 3 Stooges, and Saved by The Bell.

It's going to be a long day.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Yesterday didn't go as planned. I hate when that happens.

Family Fun Day was canceled due to Vance not feeling well.

Vaughn's room got painted instead.

Vance was feeling well enough to go to his kindergarten orientation last night, thank goodness.

Today Vaughn has school and I was looking forward to have some alone time with Vance. We were going to do something fun.

If he's still not feeling well today we'll have to go to the doctor's instead.

The kid has not had a fever since January of 2009. Why now? Why 2 days before the first day of school???

Friday, July 09, 2010

First Day/Last Day

Vance's first day of preschool:

Vance's last day of preschool:

He said goodbye to all his friends, giving hugs and high fives. He hugged his teacher and patted her back while both of their eyes started to tear up. He had a good last day.

Now onto getting ready for out-of-town guests that will be arriving tonight. Hope this rain goes away - we've got lots planned!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Teacher Thank You's

Vance's last day of preschool is today.

(Can you hear me trying to pull myself together?)

Here's the Thank You gifts that I made for his teachers. 3 tea towels and 1 flower ring.

(I'm happy with how the ring turned out and think I need one for myself now!)

Packaged and ready to go:

Countdown to Kindergarten has begun.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Harvest Time

Big harvest today and first cucumber of the season. I'm taking huge pride that this garden is actually producing something.

July 5th

I love towel forts.

The majority of my childhood summers were spent at the pool, so I'm proficient in making a good towel fort. I'm glad these kiddos like them too.

On Monday we celebrated with an impromptu day at our pool with part of the fam. We had a blast!

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

4th of July

We had a big day planned at the pool, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we had to switch up our plans. We went to a playground and played and did some walking and scooting on the walking trails that surrounded the park.

And of course we had cupcakes.

And strawberry daiquiri's.

And Vance held his first sparkler.

And Vaughn covered her ears because the fireworks were too loud.

And we saw fireworks. It's still weird living in a place where fireworks are legal and believe me, people in this county like to blow stuff up. It's crazy. It sounds like a full-out aerial assault and from our deck we can see amazing fireworks from every angle. It blows my mind every year.

Here's just one of our neighbors firework trash piles on Monday morning. Impressive. And there was more in the garage to be set off. It doesn't get old to these people here.

Awesome.

July 3rd. Botanical Gardens

We took the kids to the Botanical Gardens for the Dino Quest exhibit. It was a beautiful day to walk around and everyone had a great time. Vance enjoyed the exhibit, but I'm not sure if younger kids would. Most of the dinos are small and they're tucked in with the existing plants, so you really have to look for them. On Thursday nights you can bring flashlights to find the dinosaurs, which Vance would have LOVED, but Thursdays aren't really doable for us. I think the favorite, as it always is, was feeding the Koi.

Afterwards we ate Bomb Pops at the house (haven't had one since I was a kid) and ran to Target to get Vance a new bike helmet and new dive toys for the kids. Vaughn chose princess ones and has been using them as dolls ever since. She doesn't like that they sink and would rather just hold onto them.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

This Bottle of Wine...

This bottle of wine...

broke our first wine opener.

broke our second wine opener.

laughed at our attempt at using pliers to get the broken corkscrew out of the cork.

laughed even harder at our attempt of using a drill to uncork it.

It finally gave in and broke.

We couldn't even drink it and now we're out of wine openers.

Good thing I bought the rum. I'm pretty sure it has a screw top.

Friday, July 02, 2010

4th of July Printables

There's a bunch of free 4th of July downloads over at Tweedle Dee Designs. Click to follow the link.

There's also some cute ones over at Bella Grace Party Designs. I don't have a picture, but I printed off the cupcake toppers.

(I'm going to add the word 'topper' to my list of words that I don't like. It will follow the words Yummy and Tasty.)

These are two creative ladies! I love stuff like this! What do you guys think?

A List!

Random Friday: A List!

Vance can pump his legs while swinging now. Age 5 has struck again.
Vance has also requested that we stop using the word "Pants" in conjunction with his name. That's right, no more Vancer Pants, Mr. Pants, or Vancer Pants-A-Rooskie.
Vaughn has started saying new phrases, "Whatcha doin'?" or "Whatcha got?" or "Whatcha makin'?", when she sees that you're doing something. She uses a low voice and a New Jersey/Boston accent.
I bought a bottle of Rum at the grocery store yesterday. Not sure why, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I later circled back around and picked up strawberry daiquiri mix just to even things out a bit.
The Garden is growing like crazy! Except the red pepper plant that suffered a minor set back. It was eaten by a rabbit while the neighbor's dog was on vacation. Stripped every leaf off the plant. Since the dog has been back, no rabbit has been near and we're finally growing again.

It's Friday! Enjoy it!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Bike Rodeo and Silly Pics

Vance and I brought the computer outside yesterday to begin the online search for a new backpack for school. We did a little looking, he'd like something a little Buzz Lightyearish and I'd like something not so Buzz Lightyearish. We quickly gave up and decided that it was more fun to take silly pictures.

(It's hard to tell, but Vance had his first fall since taking the training wheels off his bike. Yesterday at school was Bike Rodeo day and the kids got to bring their bikes. He scraped his chin and above his lip, but the worst part is that he cut the inside of his lip. The teachers said he hopped right back on and continued riding. What a trooper! Although, he did pass on the orange juice this morning because of his cut lip. I told him he needed to cowboy up, he looked at me weird, and I gave him milk instead.)