Picture Edition

Just when I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to have as much to write about now that Peyton is in pre-school 5 mornings a week (yes yes, you read that right, 5 mornings a week, that's how this mom rolls)  she brings home an art project today.  She drew a picture of myself on one side of the paper and a picture of Doug on the other.  Before you go all "Awww, isn't that sweet?!?"  Let's have a look shall we...

Doug's side:

Not bad right? 

Now this is my side:



"Mom, I had to draw a picture of you and I made you all crazy like."  (While waving her hands in the air all around her head)

I'll get you my pretty, and your little crayons too.

Just sayin'.

*********************

Remember Hot Pants McGee? 

These are the pants she had on the day I wrote that post.

This is her trying to hike them up.  They are a thicker material, so it doesn't work as well as her yoga capris.

So, I give you the yoga capris.  A nice thinner material. 

Perfect for this:

And had I been quick enough, I also would have gotten a picture of her in her hiked up shorts as well, but to be quite honest,  my wine glass was empty and well, I have priorities people.

Hot Pants McGee

Peyton's latest fashion statement, I use the term fashion loosely, is to hike her pants all the way up her legs as far as she can and go about her day.  Long pants or capris, makes no difference to her.  She much prefers yoga capri pants, they go up the easiet and stay there the longest.  And when she gets those yoga pants up, she might as well be wearing those teeny tiny spandex shorts like the volleyball players do.

Today's pants are a thicker sweatpant material, think that would slow her down?  No siree.  Not even a little.  These pants don't go as high as her thinner material pants would, be she's going to hike them puppies up as though her life depended on it.  She'll even walk around holding her pant legs up if she has to.  And her legs are about a mile long, so there is a lot of pant leg to hold.

And since they read "If you give a moose a muffin" in school today, I give you my version of "If you give..."

If you give a Peyton some long pants, she's gonna want to hike them up.  And once she has hiked them up she gonna want to walk around and shake her groove thang a bit more than she normally does.  And then her mom is going to discover that she has pulled her pants up to the sky and tell the Peyton she needs to put her pants down.  And once the Peyton has done this, and her mom has gone back about her business of putzing around the house, the Peyton is going to pull those pants back up so fast you never knew they were down in the first place.

And if you give a Peyton a second warning about having her pants hiked up to rival that of a hot pants flight attendant from years gone by, she is not going to be happy.  She might even give you a pouty lip and "humph" all the while crossing her arms and turning her back to you.   This is not going to make her mom very happy.

This might also make the mom come over and pull the pant legs down and say again "Pull your pants down!"  And once the mom has said this to the Peyton, and once again gone back about putzing about the house, the Peyton is going to want to go outside.  And if you let the Peyton outside with her friends, what will be the first thing she does??  It most likely would be to hear her mother scream out the upstairs bedroom window " HEY!!! I SAID PULL. YOUR. PANTS. DOWN!!!!! N O W !!!!!!" (think Mommy Dearest and her love for wire hangers)

This is going to want to make Peyton's mom want to duct tape her pant legs to her body so that the pants may be worn the way the manufacturer intended.  Notice that the mom did not say staple, as that would not look so good to the dad once he got home from school.  And if you give the mom enough grief, she is going to take the pants off the Peyton and put her in shorts because the Peyton surely won't be able to hike up her shorts and have them stay.

Silly mom.  Of course the Peyton will. 

Hot Pants McGee-1
Mom-0

Fancy Nancy



Peyton brought me two of her Fancy Nancy books the other night and wanted to read.  If you have never heard of or read Fancy Nancy, she is a girl who uses fancy words in place of ordinary ones. 

For example: "Tomorrow is ..."

"Pjamam Day!" we shout in unison.

(That's a fancy word for all together.)

As we were reading Pajama Day and The Dazzling Book Report, I decided to ask Peyton what the "fancy" words meant as they appeared in the story.  

Me: "Elegant is a fancy word for what?"

P: "Plume."

Me: "No, fancy."

P: "Not plume?  Oh.  Alright."

Me: " Dilemma is a fancy word for what?"

P: " Plume!"

Me: "It means problem."

P: "Oh alright, problem"

Me: "Select is a fancy word for what?"

P: "Pl...Pick!" (she started to say plume)

Me: "Plume is a fancy word for what?"

P: "Uh...feather!"

She likes her feathers, what can I say?

FINALLY! She goes to school...

A few things:

1. I realize Labor Day has passed, but her shoes are not white.  They are ivory.  So there Stacey & Clinton.  It was those or hot pink Converse All-Stars. 

2. I think she is channeling her inner Gaga in this picture.  We did watch the VMA's last night.

3. *I* wanted her to wear this outfit, Uncle Kath gave it to her for her birthday this summer.  She wanted something completely different.  I convinced her she had to go sassy on the 1st day of 4 year old pre-school. 

4. Yes, you read #3 correctly.  You have my permission to say "I told you so."

5. I told her last week that she had homework due on her 1st day of class. 

Her instant reply:  "OH COME ON!" 

6. Upon attempting to complete said homework on Sunday, she was "Soooooo tired" and "I can't/don't want to/don't know how do this", but quickly recovered when she figured out that her options were either to do the homework or take a nap if she was that tired.  Really. It starts this early??

7. Our neighbor Lily went to pre-school for the 1st time today.  Peyton thought she was the bomb diggity showing Lily what school was all about. 

8. Peyton was also told she was going to go to school everyday this year.  Her instant reply to that: "WHAT?!? <huge sigh> I don't think so."

9.  My response to #9: "You sure are sister!" <jumps for joy while saying it>

10.  I love school!

Bachelorette Edition...

This weekend we went to Michigan for my sister Melanie's Bachelorette Party.

Melanie, our other sister Melissa, and myself drove up on Friday night so that we would be able to start our Saturday morning off like this...

Our "1st" First stop of the day was at Karma Vista.  The three of us went there right when they opened because we were under the impression that this was not a stop on our tour.  It also happens to be a favorite winery of the Ukovich Girls. 

We purchase a few bottles, and a new wine glass for me, then head to our pick up spot where we meet our driver Al & party bus for the day.  Being the good sport that he was, he also sported beads that day and a "Too Hot" button on his shirt.  It turns out that our first stop on the tour was Karma Vista! We walked in and the owner looked at us and said "Weren't you guys just here about 45 minutes ago??"

I need this sign for my side of the garage:

One of these days, the weather will be nice enough when we come up here to actually sit out on the patio's of the various wineries we like to visit for us to enjoy a bottle.  Per stop.

This little animal cracker wanted a drink...

And this little animal cracker had a bit too much to drink...

Naughty little animal cracker. 

Naughty.

No worries though, we enjoyed our bottles on the bus.

This was the sign above the door entering Tabor Hill Winery, the 5th stop of the day.  I happen to think that is a great way to live life!

Our last stop of the day was at The Round Barn, which is not only a winery, it is a brewery and distillery as well.  The wine barn happens to be round, just like the picture above.  Go figure...

Kathi, Melissa, Claud, Al, Melanie, Michelle and Tracey

Here we are at the end of the day in the Beer Barn with our driver Al, who happens to be showing a wee bit of leg!  We also need to thank the rest of the passengers in the bus with us, Jeff & Jessica and Korie, Katie & Abby for putting up with us and for wearing the beads they volunteered (we forced them) to wear to join in our fun.

After we were dropped off, we went out to dinner, as it had rained all day it was a bit too wet to grill out.  And instead of chilling in front of the fire-pit we played some board games inside, exciting group, I know!  I think the final tally for most wins at Sequence goes to Kathi & Mel.  I am pretty sure that Claud won (cleaned house) at Apples to Apples.  I do know for a fact, it was NOT me.  Girlfriend couldn't buy a win that night.  It didn't matter if I put down a serious answer card or one completely random to the topic, I wasn't going to win.

Mel and Brad's wedding is in 26 days, October 9th.  They are such a cute couple and completely made for each other. 

Walk like an Egyptian...

Little Miss I Don't Need a Nap Today, is a crumbling hot mess by dinner time tonight.  Add to that she is fighting a cold this week, and well, the meltdowns are epic.  Like Hollywood blockbuster epic.  The girl deserves an Oscar for her episodes lately.

Meltdown #1- Wipes her face with her shirt because her nose is running.  She loses it because "It HURTS!" WAAAHHHH...

Meltdown #1.5 or 2 (you decide)- While still in meltdown 1.5 or 2, she bumps her knee that she scraped the other night playing outside.  This causes further wailing and limping to go to the bathroom.

She gets back to the table and proceeds to eat a bit of her dinner.  More playing with her dinner actually, and the beaded necklace on the floor and spinning her cup in circles on the table, yeah, cause that won't end badly. At. All. 

Meltdown #3- Probably over being told she wasn't going to be allowed back outside if she didn't eat her dinner.  This gets her sent to her room until she can decide to eat her dinner.

Meltdown #4- So she gets it together to come back down, I can't even tell you what sets her off this time.  Back upstairs she goes.

When she returns to the table for the final time, she sits at her chair, calm as a cucumber and strikes a pose as though she is an Egyptian, like in the video from the song.  And she sits there, staring into space, one hand out in front, the other out in back of her.  Not moving an inch.  Doug and I are looking at each other like "WHT?!? is going on here?" look back at her, back at each other and she finally says:

"It's funny right?!?"

She then goes on to eat the rest of her dinner as though the previous 15 minutes NEVER HAPPENED!

And just like that it was over.  Like a switch had been flipped.  I am laughing so hard there are tears, Doug is still a bit baffled at the whole thing, and she is pleasant as ever across the table.

Good thing I have wine chilling in the fridge...

Push, Pull, Clap-Clap

Peyton and I went out and about running errands today for all the events of the upcoming weekend.  Her 1st soccer game, neighbor's birthday party & my sister's bachelorette party.  All these events take place on the same day this weekend, Saturday.  Talk about pulled in many directions!  But that is not necessarily the "pull" I had in mind.

We first head to Target, I had shoes to return and birthday gifts to buy.  Walking up to the door, that keep in mind, opens automatically, Peyton claps her hands together twice quickly and says "See, it works!"  I return the shoes, think about buying a different pair of shoes, and then we leave.  No presents or cards come with us.  Looks like I'm going back tomorrow.

From there we head to Payless Shoes.  These doors are not automatic, you have to pull or push them open.  "Mom, I'll do it!"  She proceeds to try and push the door open.  Which is all fine and dandy execpt for the fact it pulls open.  We make our way in, find some shoes, and upon leaving "Mom, I'll do it!"  Do you see where this is going??  She tries to pull the door open. 

Me: "Here buddy, you have to push it open."

P: " Ok."  (pulls the door to her body)

Me: " No dude, push it.  Away from you."

P: "Oh, yeah!"

Once we broke out of there we head to Michaels.   Automatic doors again.  Walk up, "I got this", 2 claps, and we are in.  We do our thing, she 2 claps us out.  Now I'm starting to wonder where she picked this up at and for how long has she been doing this because I find it rather comical.  I also don't want to burst her bubble that the doors would open regardless if she clapped or not!

We head on to the mall from Michaels, and she pulls the doors to get us in.  Gets it right on the first try.   We make our way through a few stores, decide to have lunch in the food court and she gets a Happy Meal.  The toy is a boy of some fairy tale story, I don't know who, I have yet to look at the package.  I do know that she has already gotten 2 Alice in Wonderlands and a Gretel.

We go on to battle the doors at Hobby Lobby and the grocery store, pushing, pulling, and clapping our way in and out and are finally headed for home.  This is the conversation that ensues:
P: "Mom"

Me: "What?"

P: "Know which girl I'm going to give the boy to?"

Me: "Who?"

P: "Well, I think maybe Alice or maybe Gretel.  I think either one of those.  I like Alice, and I like Gretel...OH PUPPY!  Mom, look at the puppy!!  Why do so many people have puppies?  Why is he in the car?  Why do dogs ride in cars? (straight into singing) I want to be a billionaire so freakin' bad, buy all of the things I never had...Hey Look!  The nets on the soccer field, my field has orange nets, those other ones are blue, why are those blue and mine is orange?  Mom, hear this (back to singing the song)..."

 Dizzy yet?? 

Speaking of singing...

Here she is at Vacation Bible School this summer. 

Singing. 

She got to dance too.

It was pure bliss for her.

And the songs she sang were a wee bit more kid friendly than the stuff she gets in my truck.   

Go figure!

The Sound of Peyton...

  Not the Sound of Music, my all time favorite movie, but The Sound of Peyton.  And one of my favorite songs from The Sound of Music is "Maria". 

"How do you solve a problem like Maria?  How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?  How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertajibbit?  A will of a whisp?  A clown?
Many a thing you know you'd like tell her.  Many a thing she ought to understand.
But how do you make her stay?  And listen to all you say?  How do you keep a wave upon the sand?
Oh how do you solve a problem like Maria?  How do you hold a moon beam in your hand?
When I'm with her I'm confused, out of focus and bemused, and I never know exactly where I am.
Unpredictable as weather, she's as flighty as a feather.
She's a darling, she's a demon, she's a lamb.
She'd out pester any pest, drive a hornet from its nest, she can throw a twirling dervish out of whirl.
She is gentle, she is wild, she's a riddle, she's a child, she's a headache, she's an angel, she's a girl!!
How do you solve a problem like Maria?  How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Maria?"

If you substitute "Peyton" for Maria, this pretty much sums up any time you spend in her company.  Like Maria, Peyton loves to sing.  Probably more than she loves to dance.  She sings all the time. 

All. The. Time. 

Be it a with a song currently playing on the radio, the iPod player, a TV music channel, or something she made up as she randomly pinballs her way through the store...The girl is singing.  And she gets into her songs too.  If we are in the car, you can bet that her "hip-hops", you may call them flip-flops, are off, her feet are on the shoulder of the seat in front of her, sunglasses are on, and she's waving her hands in the air, she's moving her hips & rocking back and forth to some song on the radio.  "Mom, turn this up" is often heard in the truck as we go out and about town doing our thing.

While Gaga, Ke$ha, and anything GLEE are all time fan favorites, the current #1 tune in the Cakes mobile is "All I Do Is Win" with Ludacris & Snoop Dogg.  And when the song says:

"And everytime I step up in the building
Everybody hands go up
And they stay there
And they say there yeah
And they stay there
Up down, up down
'Cause all I do is win win win
And if you goin' in put your hands in the air.. "

You can bet there are hands waving in the air in the backseat.  Those hands even go up, mid-song, once she hears the lyrics in a 1/2 sleep 1/2 awake stage of an hour+ car ride. 

Doug and I thought she was asleep on the way to Sleepy Hollow on Saturday until this song came on the radio.  And all of a sudden she was back in the game!  Her head picked up, she threw her hands in the air and was singing along once again.  If I could drive and shoot video on my phone at the same time, I would have done it then, and many other times before.  But I am pretty sure that shooting video while driving is not exactly safe.  One of these days though, I'll get her while Doug is driving.

And what is it that I currently hear coming from the front room?  "Dora, Dora, Dora the explorer!"  And a new day, with a new song, has begun.

Enjoy your Monday.  Peyton seems to be!

1st soccer practice...

God Bless coaches of 4 & 5 year olds. 

No matter the sport/activity. 

Talk about trying to herd cats. 

After the initial get to know your teammates circle time, Coach Eric had them go sideline to sideline in a side-step shuffle move.  Hilarious.  Only 1 kid bit it (guess who?!?).  But she got right back up and continued on, this being as Dug, sitting next to me, sees her go down and says "Ohhhh, sniper got her!"  No tears, she even avoided the mud somehow.   Because being the ultimate genius that I am, bought her white soccer socks AND sent her to practice in a white shirt.  Have I not played sports long enough to know that white is the worst uniform color available?  Did I not hear or see the rain that fell overnight and into the next morning?!?  Sheer brilliance at work here folks.  Sheer brilliance.

Coach Eric also asked the kids to come up with a team name, they went around the circle giving ideas, when it was Peyton's turn she said "The Cubs!"  That's my girl!   

They did sprints too, she wasn't the fastest, but she wasn't the lastest!  There was running along the white sideline of the field, all the way around.  Being the literal person she is, not only stayed on the white line, but made sure she turned each corner at a 90 degree angle onto the next line. 

All in all, it was a good practice. 

This will for sure make for fantastic Saturday entertainment for the next 8 weeks!

Enjoy your weekend!

She came to dance, dance, dance...

From her birthday party. 
Not exactly a grocery store shopping outfit.

P started a new dance class Monday night.  She loved it!  She also felt that dance class continued into Tuesday because she twirled and twisted and leaped all freaking day yesterday.  In the house, in the yard, and to the point of becoming a human pinball while we were in the grocery store yesterday.  Funny now, at the time, not so much.

Me: "Where are we?"

P: "At the grocery store."

Me: "Is that the same as dance class?"

P: " No.  I'm just twirling, see??" (proceeds to demonstrate twirls)

Good gravy.  Short of duct taping her hand to the cart and breaking open the twisty cap bottle of wine in my cart, there was no stopping her yesterday.  She felt the beat and had to dance.  She pinballed not only off my cart a number of times, but also aisle displays and the carts of complete strangers as well.   And every time she did this, the same response came out, "Whoa!" followed by a "WTH?!?" look on her face.  Dazed, yet somehow surprised that she rammed her body into something.  Again.  You all know it, you've all done it. One of those bounces may even have been topped off with a "Whoopsies", but I can't confirm that.

Today we go shopping for soccer gear.  Shoes, socks, shin guards, the whole she-bang!  Her 1st practice is tomorrow, and you bet my camera will be charged and ready to go. 

**This just in**

P: "MOM!  You got me graham crappers!?! You're the best!"

It is the little things that make you laugh isn't it!?

Enjoy your day!