Blondie turns 9

Blondie had a birthday and since I am so behind with my blogging, I haven't posted about it yet. She decided to have her friends come over for swimming, a movie, and sleep-over. Our neighbors were kind enough to let us use their pool with all these crazy (but cute) girls. Then we came home and ate tostadas for dinner. For her cake, we decided to give each girl a mini cake to decorate. I bought cans of decorator frosting (making it super easy on my part!) and let them go at it! Add sprinkles of all kinds (cool flavored ones) and mini gummi bears and-voila! They had a BLAST with this!! They hardly ate any cake, but had all the fun decorating it.
That was fine by me! We had ice cream with it, of course. Then we watched Aquamarine (Blondie's choice). Then we opened presents (she got some great stuff!) and some of the girls had to go home at this point. The ones that were staying the night bedded down and they told each other stories. I even made up a story for the occassion, entitled, "The Princess and the Cheese". Maybe I'll post it one of these days. Or maybe I'll publish it and you'll just have to buy it at my booksigning... Anyway, they stayed up way too late, as slumber parties are notorious for, right? In the morning I took the easy route again and had a selection of those cute little cereal boxes that are reserved for special occassions and the kids played until their moms picked them up. I love you Blondie!! Hope you had a SUPER birthday!

First day follies

So, the first day of school went very well. The kids all had a great day and everything went off without a hitch. Oh yeah--except that my youngest daughter, Little Miss, got LOST AFTER SCHOOL! About the time I was thinking the kids should be home, (carpool was picking up) I got a call from her teacher asking if I had Little Miss. She said her sisters were there with her but they couldn't find Little Miss. I said she probably went with her good friend who was in the class next door and was most likely waiting for pickup at the table we always meet at. So her teacher goes with her sisters to check the table...and no Little Miss. Everyone else in the car pool was there except her. So she tells me not to get alarmed, that they will all look for her and keep me posted. I called DH and he headed over to the school to help look for her if necessary.
I also called my carpool buddy and she said they hadn't found her yet and she was helping to look, too. Then DH got there and he called me and said at least I had taken a picture of her that morning in case we needed to print it out for the police or whatever. At that point I lost it. Up to then I was just praying and trying not to panic, but when he said that... I couldn't help myself.
A couple of minutes later he called back to say they had located her on a bus. I signed up my kids for the bus route just in case we ever needed to ride it. They passed out stickers to all the kindergartners who were on the bus list and so when school got out they saw her bus sticker and put her on the bus. Luckily, she was never scared. You know how little kids are-it was just a fun adventure. She got to ride the bus! Cool! Well, when her teacher found out they had located her she had a melt down (she's a sweet lady) and our friend who is a teacher at the school (who had missed her faculty meeting to help look for Little Miss-thank you!!!) were as relieved as we were that she was found and ok. The bus brought her back to school and DH brought her home.
So, that's our first day adventure. I think today should be a little less exciting. :)

Back to School!

Today I am mourning my kids leaving me to go back to school. Well, maybe mourning isn't the right word. I just miss them. A lot. I am happy that they all have teachers they are excited about and for the new adventures of a new year of school. Next year I will have TWO kids in junior high! That's a strange thought. I love these cuties and hope they had a fabulous first day!!