One of the major benefits of having the older girls in school....

....is that the non sequiturs of Miss Lucy are easier to catch.

WARNING!  The second story in this post is pretty explicit.  I've actually put some thought into ways to clean it up, but there is no other way to convey the horror of that moment but to come out and say it.

1- Daddy's Girl

Not five minutes after the girls left on the bus this morning, Lucy sat down next to Ruth and I on the living room floor and said:

"So, Mommy, did you have to fight all the other girls so you could marry Daddy?"

"Fight the other girls?" I asked, not quite following.

"Yes," she said, "all the other girls wouldn't want to marry that other guy*, so did you fight them?"

I thought about it for a second, then answered,"Yes.  I had to fight all the other girls, and I won."

2- Thank God there were no men at the park!

Later that same morning, we were at the park when Lucy started digging through my diaper bag.
"Hey!" she yelled out, "You have jingle bells in here!"

I was blithely chatting with another mother and nodded in her general direction, not really paying attention, but she persisted.  "Try this!" she exclaimed, trying to get the attention of another little girl, "I can't get it to jingle."

I glanced at her, and then did an exact replica of a cartoon double-take.  I'm pretty sure my eyes literally bugged out of my head.  What Lucy was holding, what she had just unwrapped and taken out of my bag, what she was swinging wildly around and trying to give to other children was....a tampon.


3- Correct assessment of the situation

As we drove home, Lucy noticed a hitch-hiker on the side of the road.  "Is that a policeman?" she asked me, "Or just some random guy?"

* I don't know who "that other guy" is, but I'd be curious to meet him.

First day of school

Above:  our traditional "spa day" before the start of school.
Below:  the elementary girls waiting for the bus

We were beginning to think this day would never come, as school was canceled on Monday and then Tuesday.  I think the girls were a little more nervous than usual because of the delays, but they were ready and all set to go in record time and the morning went as smoothly as it could.  Now Lucy and I are just puttering around the house while Ruth naps and we await their return, to hear how it all went!

We're ready, just not sure what it is we're ready for...

The laundry is completely done (something I can almost never say.)  The pantry is full of crackers, tuna, and the makings for s'mores. The house is clean top to bottom, especially the tubs (in case we need to fill them with water.)  School supplies have been organized, labeled and are in backpacks and ready to go.  The freezer is full of water bottles, the phones have been charged, batteries are ready and candles are on the counter.

All of which means:  Irene is probably going to peter out before she reaches here.  We are so ready for the first day of school, though, I can't believe it.

Seven Quick Takes, before the storm

1- About the earthquake;  this may be something that is only understandable to my old Steubenville friends, but in retrospect I thought it was too funny not to share. When my bed began to shake, for a split second my first thought was Demons!?!  It wasn't until the whole room rumbled that I thought the until-now equally incomprehensible but less hysterical Earthquake!?!

2- My children were not afraid in the least.....until they heard me screaming for everyone to come downstairs.  Kids have an amazing ability to just accept things as they happen and not worry about them.  I, on the other hand, have watched too many apocalyptic movies for my own good.

3- I just turned 35!  Chris and the girls were unbelievably good to me this year:  Chris let me sleep in and had my favorite breakfast (bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon) ready for me, along with coffee from my favorite place.  Katie made a beautiful card and a big bunch of adorable earrings (her latest hobby), Claire and Abbie performed a comical song, Lucy did a dance ("I just made it up just now," she said , "And I didn't feel like making a card, okay?  I love you very, very much.") and Beth made a card that had me laughing for quite a while.  We went to a historic grain mill for a little tour, and we all really enjoyed it (along with the cornmeal cookies they gave us - surprisingly delicious!)  Then, later that night, Chris whipped up some swordfish and tomato-prosciutto bruschetta for dinner.  I have to love a man who can make a delicious bruschetta!!  All in all, it was a really great day and I went to sleep feeling very grateful for my wonderful family.  It was a good way to ring in 35 years of life! 

4- I have always thought of my age in terms of how it would sound were I killed in some manner that made the evening news.  When I turned 20, I remember thinking that I would probably make the shift from "a 19-year-old-girl was hit by a bus this morning," to "a 20-year-old-woman was stabbed to death at Dunkin' Donuts."  I think I have now passed the "what a tragedy!" phase and am somewhere between "oh, how sad" and "meh" depending on how the news story plays out.  I think I'll probably be in this category for a while, until I hit the "Whatever, she was probably going to die soon anyway" bracket.  Unless I die in Aruba, in which case how I look in a bikini would supersede how old I am.  (In other words, should I die in Aruba I will not be making the evening news.)

5- About Beth's card:  a few weeks ago she asked me if she could save some pistachio nut shells.  Beth has a bit of a problem with hoarding, so I said, "NO! Nuh-uh, no way!"  She actually already had an old stash of shells, and after realizing this I told her that unless she could think of a good use for them immediately, in the trash they would go.  She thought for a moment and then said, "I have a good use for them!"  Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I opened up her homemade birthday card to find.....pistachio nut shells glued on the inside. 

6- Ruth still refuses to say, "Mama."  She will mimic just about any sound you make to her (including a Donald Duck voice,) and I am pretty sure that she says "this" and "night-night."  Every time I try to get her to say "ma-ma-ma" though: nothing but laughs.  

7-I just had my first discussion with the doctor about the HPV shot for Katie.  I had all sorts of arguments prepared, but when the time came I ended up just saying, "No thanks."  At the end of the day I realized that there was no reason to justify the decision:  I felt confident in my judgment on this (and Katie and I did have a brief discussion about it) and I did not particularly care whether the doctor agreed with me or not.  (He is a lovely doctor and didn't push it.)  This is what I like best about being in my 30s - not caring so much about what other people think.  It's freeing, especially for someone chronically neurotic like myself.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting Seven Quick Takes.  Now I'm off to make sure we have enough water and fireplace-cook-able foods in case of hurricane.  Good times!

Earthquake

Well, that was pretty scary.

I was in my room putting Ruth down for a nap when the bed began to rock slightly.  At first I just thought that the frame, which has needed tightening, was about to give up but then the whole house started to shake.

We're all fine.  My mom called to say they felt it in Pittsburgh, and the Lobers told Chris they felt it in Cleveland.  Crazy!  This was my first (and hopefully only) earthquake, and I have to say - the idea of living in California never seemed less appealing. 

We are trying something new...

Katie has been more and more interested in posting on my blog, so after some thought I've decided to give her a blog of her own.  I am going to keep a tight rein on who can view it (and what Katie can post), but any family or friends (so- if you are one of our 14 loyal readers, this means you!  You too, Natalie!) can get access to Katie's opinion on family, the world, and life in general.  Just email us at  rebecca mlinek at g mail dot com.  (take the spaces out etc.) and we'll grant you access to Katie's exclusive club.

Slice of Life

Summer is wonderful, but exhausting

I realize that I haven't updated this in a long time.  We have been very busy with swimming and making blanket forts and amassing vast fortunes in Lego Harry Potter.  We have been to beautiful and fun weddings, visited with family, hosted friends here, witnessed the miraculous resurrection of our beloved Dusty Camel, had playdates, had more playdates, gone to parties, picked insane amounts of fresh fruit and then feasted on pies, muffins, scones, jam and...fresh fruit.  We have gathered in the evenings to take in such classics as Rear Window (loved by all excepting Lucy, who spent the time playing behind the couch), Where the Wild Things Are (loved it), and Phineas and Ferb's 2D Adventure (also loved it- don't judge!) We have been reading, we have been lolling around the basement watching nothing in particular, we have been learning to sew and to make beaded jewelry.

We have been remembering Chris' Grandmother, Dora, who passed away last week and will be sorely missed.  She, along with my own Grandma Niccoli who passed away 18 years ago, exemplify for me what it means to be a loving and devoted wife.  

We have been chasing a wayward baby, trying to keep her from eating inedible objects (curse you, Squinkies!), from falling down stairs, from pulling chairs and cups and heavy books onto her head, from unplugging lamps and sticking her fingers into outlets, from eating bugs and licking pool water off the deck, from breaking computers and ripping artwork to shreds.  We have spent a lot of time chasing our wayward baby.

It has been a good summer thus far.  But busy in that way that makes it hard to explain, where days and weeks go by in a whirl of activity that, when it is over, makes you look back and think wait, what were we doing all that time?

Swimming and playing, goofing off and doing nothing at all:  we've been busy having summer.

Little Models: Part 1 (by Katie)

  The girls love it when I give them "makeovers". My little trick is using gel pens. Take a pink one and put it on your cheek then get rid of the lines and make it look like blush by rubbing it with a wet paper towel. For eyeshadow I do the same to their eyes except I don't rub a wet paper towel on it. It comes off super easy. Anyways, the girls got the idea to do modeling, where I am supposed to give them makeovers and take pictures of them in outfits I choose. Beth was at a friend's house and it ended up taking over 2 hours just to do Lucy and Claire, so I'll do Abbie and Beth another day. Lucy demanded that she gets pictures not only of her in two outfits, but in a costume as well. I gave Lucy purple "eyeshadow" for her green eyes (I love green eyes!) and actually, she looked natural with it, as in I didn't need to "get used to it". Here are Lucy pictures:

This was the only good picture of this pose, and its REALLY blurry.

I wish I knew how to turn pictures. *Sigghh...* Oh well.

I love this picture of Lucy. She really rocks Hello Kitty!

She made up this pose herself!

Notice that tuft of hair sticking out at the top of her head?

And do you remember when she cut off a bit of her hair?

We do sometimes have trouble hiding it.

She just had to be a ballerina :)

After an hour taking of pictures (Trust me, these are only 1/4 of her pictures. The others aren't so good.) Lucy had finally been convinced that she had taken enough, and I could do Claire. Of course, I thought this would be more fun until I realized that Claire will only wear like 5 shirts and has pretty much only dirty pants in her drawer. I had sooo much trouble choosing her outfits. I mean, look at this one:

A funky, modern short-sleeved shirt with a frilly bottom and hood...

with rolled up fuzzy winter pants?

It's all she would wear.

Well, the top is cute.

We really had fun with this outfit...

...a LOT of fun :P

Claire's kinda like me, we can't really smile on command.

It's a super cute picture though.