Rose #2 is a 5-Year-Old Kindergartener!!

Rose #2 goes to a year-round school, and today was the last day of 4-year-old kindergarten. We were so pleased to learn that she has been promoted to 5-year-old kindergarten! We found out because she got a really great shirt:

We were a bit worried that she might be held back. Just kidding, of course. Who wouldn't want this cute thing in their 5-year-old kindergarten class!

We hope the answer to that is not Mrs. Webster, since it looks like she is ready for a repeat Rose performance. At least through Christmas vacation, since Mrs. Webster has more important things going on in the new year...

Finally. At Long Last. I Am A Mom Who Can Sit And Watch Her Kids Play.

Tonight after dinner, H and I and the Roses went for a walk. We went to a park near our house, the "snowman park," and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles (God took a Daniel once again, turned him around, and miracle of miracles...oh, never mind, it's not really Fiddler on the Roof) the Roses played on the playground equipment. By themselves. With no intervention from us, except that I did push Rose #3 on the baby swing for a little while.

So, H and I sat and actually talked. About going to see the new Harry Potter movie. About changes we want to make to our house, some short term, some longer term. If we had unlimited money, we would knock down the wall between our kitchen and our weirdo, underused, back room with french windows, french doors and fireplace. It would be such a cool greatroom/kitchen. Unfortunately the wall that we want to knock down has most of the kitchen cabinets and all of the plumbing. So it is no small feat.

We walked home from the park and had red and orange popsicles on the front porch. Then the two older Roses played Club Penguin and I read library books to Rose #3. After showers and brush teeth, the Roses are in bed. And, at this point, almost asleep.

(My apologies to Sheldon Harnick for borrowing Fiddler on the Roof lyrics.)

In the home stretch now

Three more bedtimes (counting tonight). Three more times that I have to wash Rose #3's hair whilst she screams BLOODY MURDER in the small bathroom. Three more nights that I will have a non-operative master bathroom. Have I mentioned that I HATE being a single mother for the week? But how could you resist these faces?

They wanted a bath - what could I say? I prefer showers - cleaner, less giant puddles on the floor, less time that I have to spend kneeling on the bathroom floor wrestling shampoo through the Roses' hair. But every now and then it is nice to have a good old fashioned bath.

We had a good evening. I am reading Beezus and Ramona to Rose #1 and tonight they played Beezus and Ramona. Rose #1 was Beezus, Rose #3 was Ramona, and poor old Rose #2 had to be Ralph, the imaginary lizard.

Coach Pitch Night

This is day 4 of H's absence, if you count the day he left (and you DO count the day he left, by the way). We had coach pitch tonight, which is pre-softball. Rose #1 is the only one playing from our family, and she does a nice job. Here she is on third base, posing for a photo from her crazy mom who hoots and hollers from the sidelines when she is running or batting:

Rose #2 posed for a picture in front of the chainlink fence, which she decided to climb. Two or three steps up she remembered and turned around to look at me, to gauge whether I was approving of her climb, or not. I said that if she had to stop and ask if it was a good idea to do what she was doing, the answer would generally be "no".

And Rose #3, not to be left behind or forgotten.

I was in kind of a bad mood with everyone tonight - I am tired, it is a really long week without H, H called for a goodnight call for the girls right smack in the middle of storytime and it was getting really late, Rose #3 right after we turned out the lights peed through her diaper onto her jammies and bedclothes, and I cannot for the life of me get our toiled unplugged. Sigh. I wish I was the kind of mom who takes everything in stride. It is just not me. Anyway, perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Hats Off to Single Moms (and thank goodness for a good support system)

Tonight I really, really wanted to go to my writing class. In light of H's absence in El Paso, I put out an email to my family asking if anyone would be willing to watch the Roses so I could go to class. 15 minutes later, I was covered. Thank you Guppy and Heidi for volunteering.

I really have to tip my hat to single moms. I can only surmise how hard it is - I am weary after only 48 hours. (Is that all? Only 48 hours? Why does it feel like 48 DAYS?) And it hasn't been that hard - I get out of the house to go to work, and we have an extremely kind, hardworking and willing-to-make-dinner nanny. I have it so, so easy by comparison.

But there are little cracks in my patience level, already. Example: Rose #2 used our bathroom, which is against the rules, by the way, and put a wad of toilet paper the size of my HEAD down it. I still have not been able to plunge the darn thing out. If H were here, it would have been fixed 24 hours ago. And the endless round of potty, wash hands, dry hands, etc. with Rose #3 is wearying. I had to ask Rose #2 to get undressed for her shower about 1,893 times before she actually did it, and she only actually did it when I walked her over to the laundry basket so she would not get distracted. I am solely responsible for taking out the garbage, locking up the house, killing stray and random bugs - why did the bugs wait for H to leave for Texas to ALL COME INTO THE HOUSE? So far I have killed a beetle, one of those awful basement bugs with 18,000,000 legs, and various flies and ants. I hate killing bugs. Not because I feel sorry for them either. Mainly because I feel sorry for me, having to crunch them and then pick up their dead bodies with a napkin, or worse, a Kleenex. Eeeeech.

H, hurry home to us. You need to plunge the toilet and do a shift on bug-killing duty. Plus we miss you.

Post-MND Sister Smiles

We had a wondeful MND at the Brodeens' house. Thanks Brodeens! Then we came home and ate our pixie sticks (yes, pixie sticks, thanks to Aunt Brenna) and showered, read books, brushed teeth, and now we are trying to come down from the sugar high to fall asleep.

After story time the Roses posed for a picture in their jammies:

We really miss Daddy. He is out of town again this week and will not be home this time until Saturday night, late. This post is for you, H. Hurry home to your girls!

Skirts and Scarves at MND

Guppy sewed skirts and scarves for the kids, and gave them out at MND!

Is this not the absolute cutest group of kids you have ever, ever seen? Here is some information about them, left to right:

On the far left is Bea, who once (famously) (in January 2009) fell down in the tide pool at the Minnesota Zoo. I thought of this because before surrendering to sleep tonight, Rose #3 said, "Remember Beatrice fell down tide pool?"

Next to Bea is Rose #2, who did not change out of her school clothes before going to MND! The school uniform summer t-shirt goes well with the 4th of July skirt, I think.

Next to Rose #2 is Maddie, who was inexplicably afraid of the horse in Kirksville. Maddie is a very tough little girl, but the horse was apparently too much for her!

Next to Maddie is Rose #3, who was running today and fell down, getting a very large owie on her elbow! She looked quite distraught when telling me about it, but perked right up as she recounted that our nanny gave her a bandaid. She loves bandaids. Note how Rose #3 is holding the hand of...

Baby Kate! I LOVE this picture of Baby Kate since she is right in the thick of things AND is she smiling a big, big smile.

Rose #1 is next to Baby Kate. Can you even believe it, Rose #1 wore a skirt! She removed it immediately following the picture, but she still managed to put it on. I think she looks beautiful in a skirt, but I am just the mom. What does mom know anyway?

Next to Rose #1, of course, is Sam. Sam looks very dapper in his 4th of July neck kerchief.

And circling back to the front row, sitting on his truck, is Gus. Gus came over to me at MND and laid his head on my lap, which I found quite endearing.

Thank you for the picture Guppy!

Kirksville 09, Part Trois

After the excitement of horseback riding, we had our very own guided tour of the herpetology department. In case you are wondering, herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles. Grandpa Pete knew two students who work in the herpetology lab and were in town on July 3, and who were willing to give us a tour.

Here is a small disclaimer: I HATE reptiles and amphibians. But the kids liked them! The students retrieved an absolutely enormous python from its cage - it was over 13 feet long - and let it stretch its, er, legs down the hall. The kids were fascinated. I was faintly repulsed.

The kids also enjoyed petting this orange snake creature. I have forgotten which type of snake it is - its snake genome or whatever you call it.

Rest assured, everyone washed their hands quite thoroughly after the snake touching was over. Phew.

Kirksville 09, Part Deux

On Day #3 of the Kirksville trip, Grandpa Pete was kind enough to arrange a horseback riding outing (because Rose #1 expressed a wish to go horseback riding!). We went out to the Truman State University farm and met the very, very kind equestrian coach Emily, who arranged for a ride on her very own horse Polly.

Anyway, here are all the Roses and their cousins waiting to meet Polly the horse:

And here is Emily the coach and Polly the horse. Polly was a very old and gentle horse, who did not mind in the slightest that the kids were riding her:

Before Polly could get her saddle on, she had to be brushed. All the kids got a turn to brush her, and here is Rose #1 brushing Polly:

After Polly was saddled up, Emily asked for riders. No one volunteered, until Rose #3 plucked up her 3-year-old courage and went first. Here she is in her helmet with Grandpa Pete and Emily looking on:

Rose #1 quickly lost her fear after she saw that Rose #3 loved it, and she went next:

And Rose #2 was fourth. She loved it - can you see the big smile on her face?

I got one silhouette shot of Rose #2 at the end of the paddock:

And finally, I had to take a shot of the warning sign. This was prominently displayed at the entrance. I had to snicker a tiny bit at the structure of the warning ("Under Missouri law...pursuant to the revised statutes of Missouri"). But that's the lawyer in me shining through.

Kirksville 09

Oh, yes, we went to Kirksville. Kirksville '09, baby!

Bad news: H was sick. Really sick. H1N1, probably, or at least "type A influenza," which is a CODE NAME for H1N1. If you ask me, anyway. I am not a doctor.

We decided to go anyway, because how could you refuse these faces:
As I was the only parent of the Roses present, I was unable to take as many pictures as I wanted. But I did take pictures of the horseback riding outing! Next post.