Wednesdays are a little crazy. Once everyone is home (415ish) there is a rush to get homework done, backpacks unloaded/reloaded, dinner made, dinner eaten, dinner cleaned up, and then Chris, Maggie and Katherine leave by 545 to go to choir. Abby and I stay behind to finish cleaning up and then go to pick the girls up at 7 (Chris stays for adult choir.)  We get home again about 720 and do showers/baths/hair/teeth/stories/bed.

Depending on the day, it might run smoothly or be total chaos.

Tonight we got home and I sent the girls upstairs, saying, "Do you know what to do, or do I need to remind you?" And they responded in unison, "Put our clothes in the laundry and get ready for baths/shower"

Of course 3 minutes later as I made my way upstairs I knew from the giggling and shrieking that they were not doing their jobs.  And so began about 15 minutes of parent vs child. Not bad, actually, just interesting or frustrating. Lots of WHY questions, (Why can't I wear short sleeves? it's too cold. Why is it too cold? It's January in Wisconsin. Why is it January?) lots of bargaining, lots of redirection you might call it.
All of this to say by the time we were at "BRUSH TEETH" I was done with answering questions.

So as we squeezed 3 girls and a mom into the bathroom and Abby held up the toothpaste with no top on it and started to squeeze it while saying "What does this say, Mommy?" my immediate reaction was "Toothpaste, it's toothpaste, silly girl, what do you think!" (while grabbing the goopy toothpaste from her)

We cleaned up the overflow of toothpaste and put the cap back on it. And just as I was about to put her toothbrush in her mouth, she looked at me with concern and said, "But Mommy, those letters are C and P. Toothpaste starts with T. I don't think it says toothpaste."

Dumbfounded Mom managed to reply, "well, you're right, those words say Cavity Protection."

What are cavity protections?

It means your teeth will be strong, let's get them brushed so you can get in your bed.

Good Grief!

It would be impossible to recap everything from the last 2 months of infrequent posting. But I'm sitting at gymnastics with no excuse not to try.

Let's talk about Christmas.

Katherine and Abby had concerts at school, and Maggie was asked to play piano  between acts at Katherine's concert. I love watching their performances!

Concert Day

Drummer Boy was (and still is) her favorite song to sing

Christmas break itself was a rush of gatherings and family and church and presents and generally good times! We were lucky to spend a day in Evanston with my family, including the Iowa cousins and the aunts (Nora and Bridget) and the special bonus of Mary Frances! Of course we went bowling, because what else would we do? And we learned just how slow a bowling ball can go while still knocking down a pin at the end of the lane!

She rolled that ball 5 minutes ago, it's now half way there!

Maggie's face says it all - so much fun!

Christmas Eve we hosted lunch at our house before going to the children's Mass. Maggie and Katherine sang in the choir and were very proud to have extra family in the pews.

Aunts playing with dolls on Christmas Eve

Katherine ready to sing at church 

Christmas Eve Mass

Sister presents on Christmas Eve

We started a new tradition this year for after church before bed on Christmas Eve. We took the girls shopping and each was allowed to buy gifts for the other 2. That ended up being very exciting for them, and a nice way to end the night.

And then? Santa came! Christmas morning was all the fun you would hope for. American girl pets and clothes for the big girls, Abby got her first American Girl doll, Caroline, and Caroline's pet cat, Inkpot. She also got a Cinderella dress that sparkles. Maggie and Katherine were so excited to get real roller skates, they've been skating in circles around the basement!

CAROLINE!

Cinderella dress - with sparkles!

Roller Skates!

The girls, their dolls, and pets

Once Chris came home from church, we went up to West Bend for the day. More food, fun, and family.

The rest of the week, was a mix of work (me) and play and getting ready for another weekend of family fun. (See my post about the Tilt a Whirl)
Saturday we joined Chris' extended family for a holiday gathering. The girls were especially excited to spend time with their cousins Zoe, Ava and Lyn.


Sunday we had Ganey family Christmas at our house. What a treat to spend the day together, eating too much and enjoying good company!

And that, my friends, is Christmas in a nutshell.

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After a slight wardrobe malfunction, wherein Abby didn't realize that leotards go UNDER the tu-tu, not OVER the tu-tu,



We were treated to an afternoon performance of "The 4 Hiding Princesses."



Life will be so boring when we are back to school/work routines tomorrow!


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There's a legend in my family regarding my first trip on the Tilt-W-Whirl.  It was many years ago, before I could pronounce the letter "L" correctly.  I believe it was at Grandpa's carnival (a Chicago church festival that wasn't actually Grandpa's, but since he took us every year, it became Grandpa's!) On exiting the ride (or perhaps during the ride?) I was heard screaming 

I YUV IT! I YUV IT! I YUV IT!

You can understand then, why I was excited to ride it again today when I saw it at Milwaukee's Winterfest! The kids are all tall enough! I could share one of my favorite rides with them!

But Abby wan't so sure.

'I don't want to go! It's too fast! It's too scary! I don't wike it!'

But Abby, it's perfect, you sound just like I did way back then - at the end I know you'll scream I YUV IT, too!

Despite her hesitation (screaming) we took her on the ride.

(Here it should be noted that Chris decided to go too, which is odd because just watching this ride makes him queasy!)

The ride operator took one look at us and put all 5 together in one car. It was a tight fit. Maggie, Katherine and I were giggling with glee. Chris was hoping his breakfast didn't end up in the car with us. Abby was still trying to decide if she was going to like it.

The ride started, and we slowly began to swing back and forth. Abby realized it wasn't so bad. Everyone was happy! SUCCESS!

And that happiness lasted about 3.2 seconds. Pretty soon Abby was screaming again, Chris was moaning for it to stop, and Maggie, Katherine and I continued to giggle with glee, having a great time! It was the longest Tilt-A-Whirl I've ever been on... which was fun for some of us, and horror for others. I didn't even take a picture of Abby when it was over because she was so crabby.

Lesson learned:She may be my mini-me in many ways, but NOT in her love of carnival rides!

But, lest you think I'm the meanest Mom ever - look how much fun she lad on the Merry Go Round!

A good time was had by all, and I don't think she'll have any permanent psychological damage!

I thought I'd bake cookies this afternoon. It's chilly and there are many other things I COULD/SHOULD do (like write a post about the month of November, which I seem to have skipped!)  But I kept thinking about cookies.

Until I opened our baking cabinet and thought to myself, "Self, you can NOT cook anything until you clean out this cabinet."

Um yeah.

About half of what I found.....

15 bags of baking chips (chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, etc) some opened, some not.

10 sticks of Crisco - some opened some not

6 bags of chopped nuts - almonds, walnuts, pecans

5 cake mixes-4 yellow, 1 chocolate

4 frostings - Chocolate, Vanilla, Funfetti (PINK!) and Peppermint

4 cans of baking cocoa - all opened

4 bags of marshmallows - 1 open, 1 expired

3 sweetened condensed milks and 3 evaporated milks, none expired

2 jars of molasses, both open, with the exact amount missing from each

And a partridge in a pear tree!

I guess I'm ready for holiday baking?

There are 3 very excited girls here tonight, expecting St Nick.

Here are the shoes they chose.....Katherine was quick to point out, "I used a boot-the bigger it is, the more stuff I can get!"



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Look who got her very first haircut today!






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