It's Good To Be The Princess

For those of you that have been to Disney know what I am talking about, all cast members there will call you children prince or princess. Katy has been going since right before her second birthday, and I think she truly believes she is a princess. She has the poise of a princess, she watches the mannerism very closely while we are there and emulates them. She will curtsy and kiss each cheek. She begins many of her sentences with "Oh, my" When we went to Rita's Water Ice just the other day, she asked "A small princess mango, please." The man behind the counter turned to her brother for clarification. Then he indulge her(just like her family does) and said " one small princess mango for the princess." My mom often says we are lucky she lets us be apart of her world.

Fourth Grade and Deodorant

Ask MG the best part about 4th grade and he will tell you, well maybe not you but he has confessed this to me, that it is changing gym clothes and wearing deodorant. All summer he kept having me check if his had gotten his "man smell" yet. I being the indulging mother I am would smell his armpits after a long hot summer day and say nope just sweaty kid smell, he then ask if I was sure because it smelled like it to him. He would walk away disappointed. We played this out at least 3 days a week, each time he was for sure he had his "man smell." So now that it is a requirement to have deodorant for after gym, he feels he has been validated.

So along those same lines, he is in the bathroom a couple of days ago and hollers out "do you think Joe will be jealous if I get my man hairs before him? This shock and surprised mama says WHAT? he repeats, I ask very curious since he is only 10 which man hairs are you talking about? His reply, you know the ones that grow on my legs, arm pits and personals. My reply "ugh, not sure, why?" Because I am getting them now. Oh, is all I could say. My sweet son is not so modest and I have seen him naked everyday, in fact just that morning and didn't notice. So maybe it is peach fuzz getting thicker? who knows! I did ask Joe's mom if she thought he would be jealous, her reply "you know they are pretty competitive."

So I pick Katy up from preschool today, and she gets in the van, buckles her seat belt and then smells both her arm pits. Then looks up at me and announces "Yup, I got it." Got what I ask?, "My woman smell" she says.

What is it with both my kids want to smell funky?

Disney Vacation

This is always my favorite vacation. At the end of the day we are all totally exhausted and some of us tend to be a little grouchy but it is after a day well spent. We had such a great time, MG, Mom and I got sick with a cold towards the end. We were given Dream Fast Passes at Hollywood Studios and I absolutely LOVED the new Toy Story ride. Katy went to the Bippity Bobbity Boutique and got the princess do she is sporting in the picture. Do you see how tight her hair is pulled into that bun? She did not complain once, now last night trying to blow dry her hair for picture day you would of thought I was ripping her hair out one strand at a time! Everything must be truly magical there. I am trying to think of one favorite thing that stands out and I can't. People will ask me why we go back year after year, but I think they are the same people who look at it as just an amusement park. You know I am already thinking about next year's trip, hopefully we will still be able to get there in this economy!

My Business Trip

Yup, you read that right this stay at home Mom, part time mystery shopper got to go on a all expensive paid business trip to Chicago. My company sent me there to evaluate stores in the Chicago area and give them feed back on how they were similar and different from the stores I shop in my area. A couple of years ago I referred my long time friend for they mystery shopping job and she was selected to go as well. So off to Chicago for us. It was like a girls weekend. Although we were very busy doing what we had gone for, we still went out and saw some sights. I loved Chicago, could not get over how clean it was for a large city. I liked it so much I keep telling Malcolm we need to take a family vacation there. I was thinking it wold be nice to rent a cottage on Lake Michigan that was driving distance to Chicago so we could also check out all the things to do. Although I enjoyed myself, I still kept thinking how much fun this would of been to be with my family. Everything we did and saw we both would comment how much fun this would be to be with our kids, and every once in awhile we would say with our husbands too. We went to the American Girl Place, and Sharon I think was a little sad because she was experiencing it for the first time with me and not one of her daughters. I told her she could close her eyes I would lead her out and we could act like it never happened. Then a friend of mine, recommend this great Mexican restaurant, and it was good. He was a Navy Chief stationed at Great Lakes before he met his wife. All though it was really good Mexican food it was in the bar district of the city and we went on Friday night which was 8-8-08, and they were having a party. I called his wife the next day to tell her where her husband sent us and said, next time he recommends somewhere I will have to inquire is it from his Navy days or church and family days! Ha Ha, we still enjoyed our dinner, it was fun watching all the party goers. Other highlights included seeing Wrigley field, Navy pier, window shopping on Michigan Ave. and walking a path along Lake Michigan in the North Shore area. One highlight included being bumped off our flight going there and given a complimentary round trip airline ticket for anywhere in the US, except Alaska and Hawaii.

Also, I was really impressed with my husband and how he entertain the kids, fed them and kept up with the schedule. He remember the Boy Scout Rain Gutter Regatta Picnic, took them swimming at the pool club, pack a picnic lunch and took them to a Smithsonian. He even cooked dinner, most nights. They didn't eat fast food once while I was away....Go Malcolm!

I am glad to be home, I missed my family!

Our Staycation

So the kids and I after Rehoboth went to my mom's for a staycation, that is when you don't drive far to take your vacation. We used my mom's house as the home base for the week. It was the best! Everyone is spoiled at Grandma's including the mom. We spent a day with one of my girlfriends from college and her kids in Oxford. One day we went to Douglassville to our old neighborhood to visit Leslie and her two kids. One evening we went with my friend Tammy and her husband Fred to Rose Tree Media Park to hear an outdoor concert of the Irish band, Blackthorn. The kids had a great time, Katy wants to take up Irish dancing. You can check them out at their website http://www.irishthing.com/

We also went to Grammy's work, she wanted to show the kids or so she says. I think she wanted to show off the grandbabies. I got to go out to dinner to PF Changs with another girlfriend and have grown up conservation. Then Sunday my mom served a Mexican dinner with fajitas and tamales in honor of my birthday, so more friends gathered! This morning as I was loading the van, Katy was refusing to leave. I practically had to drag her out from under my mom's bed. Everyone enjoyed the staycation!!

Rehoboth Getaway

We had such a great time for our little overnight trip to the beach. We seem to pack in so much in such a short 24 hours. We enjoyed the beach, the hotel pool, great seafood dinner, shopping and my favorite Grotto's pizza. The two biggest differences in going to the beach in the north as opposed to going to Myrtle Beach, it is so crowded on the beach. That is one thing I love about going to Myrtle is that you don't lay blanket to blanket. The other is the water is so cold up here. By the time we go in August the ocean water is like bath water. It was so great to get away to the beach however it has made us miss our week at the beach this year. Malcolm and I said definitely next year we will be going to Myrtle! It is so worth the drive.

MG turns 10

I can hardly believe he has turned 10! It was actually a sad occasion for me, in the midst of the birthday celebration I realized that we were over halfway to 18! Where has the time gone, it feels like yesterday he was a baby. Knowing how fast these 10 years have gone by, the realization the the next 10 will go equally as fast sadden me. I tell him all the time he can live with me forever! Although he finds comfort in that now, I am sure there is going to be a day when he is ready to break free from his mom. I don't think I will ever be ready for that day. I enjoy him, he is such a pleasure to be around. And he still likes and wants my hugs and kisses!

These are a few things that are important and his favorite at 10:

• Legos
• Playmobil
• Webkinz
• Payday, on Thursdays if he does his chores
• History Channel
• Rita's water ice
• Scouts

These are the things he sees in his future at 10:

• Having a wife, there are a few girls he has picked out now, and I will say he chooses well, lets see who is still around.....
• He wants to drive a Mustang GT, the kind that looks like the one in the 60s
• He wants to serve a mission for our church and hopes they send him to China
• He wants to be a neurosurgeon.

I have always felt blessed to be his Mom, he is an extraordinary kid!