Our 2 Cuties!!: March 2009

Sorry to report that there will be no pics in this post! But it's been ages since my last update, so I thought I should at least give a written account of our goings-on anyway!

Let's see, when I last posted, I told you about the girls making a cake for their Daddy. He didn't actually get to enjoy his cake until the next day due to working late. But enjoy it he did finally and the girls loved watching him open up presents picked out by them. The day after that, we headed over to Dean's parent's house to have another little dinner/party for him. On Monday, 3/9, Drew's class performed a very short play, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Drew was part of the crew and was chosen due to her neat handwriting to help with the invitations and she also helped create the backdrop. Five of the 18 students in her class were the actors and it was very cute! The child who played the part of the troll was perfectly cast and I seriously think he's headed for a stage someday! Everyone had a great time and the kids entertained the parents in their class with cookies and punch afterwards. On 3/10, I had a hair appointment and at the last moment decided to trade in my red streaks for some blue ones! I ended up with very dark blue streaks that were very difficult to distinguish from the rest of my black hair. So the next day, I went back and had MORE blue added, finally getting the desired outcome! I will post a pic soon, I promise! It's very crazy and so me! I love it! Luci had a well visit with her Dr. She is 38 pounds (a full 7 pounds heavier than her older sister!) and she is 42" tall which is pretty close to what Drew is. Dr. Tracy was amazed at Luci's maturity level, fine motor skills and artistic abilities. The only issue we have at the moment is some very slight stuttering which she appears to be growing out of. Speaking of stuttering, Luci had a speech evaluation at school. When I called in January to make the appointment, her stuttering was rather pronounced. When they finally managed to see her in March, the stuttering was all but gone! One of the evaluators told me she heard only one instance of stuttering throughout the entire eval. Such is life! However, they assessed her for speech issues as well as stuttering. It can be difficult at times deciphering what she's trying to say, but for the most part, I believe she is relatively on track with her speech and well ahead of the curve for most other academic areas. At the beginning of the year, I considered enrolling her in the developmental kindergarten class for a year before doing kindergarten due only to her very young age. But she has surpassed all my expectations and I feel putting her in the developmental kindergarten would probably only serve to hold her back! She is a smart cookie indeed! Her teacher RAVES at her artistic abilities as I have already noticed! A four year old shouldn't know what perspective is and how to draw it, yet she did just that when she drew a room with diagonal lines going off either side to indicate 3 dimentional walls! I dated and saved that little masterpiece because I was astonished that a child so young could grasp such an abstract idea! She is amazing!

I had my chorus's biannual coaching session on 3/14. For those who don't know, I am a member of a local Sweet Adeline's chorus (women's barbershop singing.) We were coached and sang all day our two competition songs which we will take to our contest next month in Syracuse. I am very happy with our progress and anticipate we'll do well at the contest. Last year we took second place in our category and were a mere 4 points behind the first place chorus which is VERY close!! It would be just lovely to come home with another first place medal!!! I'll let you know how that goes! Drew started baton lessons and seems to enjoy them. She quit piano lessons, though. She claimed it was too hard to reach keys, and I guess I can't argue since her hands and fingers are really tiny! I'll keep encouraging her to try again next year. Drew has begun her birthday wind-up...yes, in March! We promised her an American Girl doll and that's all we've heard about for the last few weeks! I have been hunting for clothes/furniture/accessories on ebay and other online places and have managed to come up with a few things for her. Meema and Julie have already bought or picked out clothing for her doll. Papa has asked me to pick something out for the dollas well. Grandma is going to make some clothes, so she ought to have quite the wardrobe to open up on her birthday!

I celebrated my birthday on 3/17 quietly. As a combined birthday present to ourselves, we traveled to the Turning Stone casino in Verona, NY to spend a night, do a little gambling and catch a show. We went with Jim and Julie who happened to be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary! The show was John Valby (aka Dr. Dirty). It was absolutely hilarious and I nearly peed my pants I laughed so hard! A good time with good friends cured my wicked case of cabin fever and I feel refreshed and not so pesimistic about the STILL cold weather! I know the warmer stuff is around the corner, though it would not surprise me in the slightest if we got at least one more heavy snowfall! It NEVER looks like this here in mid-March! Patience....
Anyway, guess that's all to report for now. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but what else is new? Until next time!

Happy Birthday to Dean!! The old coot is 40! Can you believe it?!? 40!!!! Oh my god! I feel like I'm getting so old!! Ahhhhhh! First, I should let you know that there are no pics of Dean in this post since he is still at work. I'll post another one when he actually gets to celebrate his big day! (40...OMG!!!!) Anyway, last night the girls and I made him a cake...chocolate, of course! They helped with the adding of ingredients and using the electric mixer and I put it in the oven. After it was done and cooled, we frosted and decorated it. Here's Drew writing "Happy Birthday".

Luci is the taste-tester. She gave it her stamp of approval!

More, it needs more!!

Ta da!!

Luci wrote this little concerto for her Daddy's birthday! Enjoy! (By the way, the earmuffs she is wearing are supposed to be the kind that musicians wear when they are recording their songs. She came up with this on her own, don't ask me where she got it from!)