I don't mean to brag, but...

As yesterday was beautiful, I took the girls to watch Munchkin's lacrosse game in the afternoon. We sat on a blanket and they practiced walking and did a lot of giggling and attempting to eat grass.

Munchkin's team won 11-3, and she scored 7 goals. I am just saying:-P

There is NOTHING of substance in this post. You have been warned

I seem to have blog-block...I generally lack stuff to write about. The girls are just-about-almost-kinda-already walking. They can take a step or two at a time, and they can walk all over the place if you hold their hands. I am not entirely sure will be a real walker first...LK is generally more mobile (she is smaller) and was first to stand and to crawl, and she walks really fast when you help her. But MA seems to be better at standing and is steadier in taking her two steps at a time, so she could beat her to it. But honestly, once one of them does it, the other will be about three hours behind...

They had their one year check-up last week, which caused me all sorts of grief. Both of them are really tall (MA is in the 100% height percentile, LK is 95%) and pretty skinny. I think of MA as being huge because she is so much bigger than her sister, but she only weighs 22 pounds, which puts her on the low end of the weight scale. LK is about 20 1/2 pounds...she has little chicken legs:-). They also got cleared to move to whole milk from formula, and to eat pretty much anything they want, except for nuts.

MA eats pretty much anything you give her. Like, she had guacamole and goldfish for dinner on Saturday (how is that for balanced nutrition?). And a little bit of pulled pork. LK is a little more selective, but it has more to do with texture than with anything else. She ate a pickle spear at Easter dinner;-) She has trouble with things that are mostly pureed but kinda chunky. Most Stage 3 baby foods are largely purees, but have pieces of carrots or pasta in them, and she can't really eat those. But she will eat cut up chicken or fish if you give it to her...

Speaking of Easter...we went out with The Boy's parents, sisters and families. His older sister was up visiting, and no one felt like cooking, so it just seemed easier to go someplace. And the girls love restaurants, I think because there are lots of people to fawn over them and lots of things to look at:-) St. Mother-in-Law mentioned at one point that, a year ago, she had just moved in with us for the rest of April and May, and she talked about how much she enjoyed that and how happy she is that she did it.

And that made me happy, because it was a HUGE help, and because she now has those wonderful memories of the first six weeks of her granddaughter's lives. That is so sweet that it makes me a little weepy...moving on.

Munchkin is in her last stretch of school now, and yet another year has flown by in the blink of an eye. She is on the verge of being a sophomore in high school, and it still seems like only a couple of months ago that I packed her up and bawled my eyes out for hours while driving her across the country. And oh, what a trip it's been...

Anyway, that is enough for today. Hope everyone is enjoying spring (in those places where you have spring;-)).

Work Schedule Pass

The girls birthday was nice...really low key, but there were enough cupcakes to make it festive:-) And most importantly, Smoking Hot Roommate took the girls over to her house for a sleepover, along with Munchkin...which left The Boy and I all by ourselves for a whole night!

Heaven.

We met up with some friends briefly for a drink, and then enjoyed the entire night of peace and quiet. Enjoyed it the way that I know best how to enjoy that much time to ourselves...seriously, after I get one drink in me, I become a complete slut these days (but how is that all that different from before, you ask? Pipe down, wise ass!!!). Anyway, acting like a horny teenager never gets old, in my book. Nor does getting a complete and full nights sleep and waking up on my own schedule!

Have I mentioned lately how much I am enjoying my new schedule? I am pretty much here four days a week, usually from about 9:00 or 9:30 until 4:00ish or so. I get to take my time in the morning with the girls, get some time in the afternoon to not feel like I am constantly rushing around, and have plenty of freedom to leave at 3:00 if I want to go to something of Munchkin's after school. And to be really honest, I feel like I get a lot done...not much less than when I was here all day, every day. I am definitely more focused.

It won't last forever, which is a bummer, and I still reserve the right to take the summer off entirely (again:-P) but for now it is kinda the best. I will likely not work at all this fall while I finish school, but I could still work just a little to keep up on a few things...but I definitely don't want to run myself as ragged as I did last fall, which means a lot less work. I actually think that Boss Foxy, Papa Bear and Big Sis would have some stern words for me if I even tried...they are all going to hold me accountable for finishing school, and they all know how much I over-worked myself last fall. Actually sort of nice to have them worrying about me:-)

But anyway, for now...things are really good!

ONE!!!

We made it...my baby girls are one entire year old! I should probably be more reflective on this than I am: when I really stop and think about where I was a year ago, it seems pretty remarkable. The year has gone by really fast, but at the same time that seems so very long ago. (A very wise woman once said "The years fly by, but the days can sometimes go on forever"...lotta truth to that:-))

Anyway, the girls went to school today in the birthday outfits, and I took pictures of them with the intent of posting them here when I have a minute. However, we all know that my follow-through on pictures is pretty bad, so I won't really promise anything...but hopefully I will get to it this weekend.

We are having The Boy's family and the pretend family over tomorrow afternoon, but nothing real formal. I am sure there will be cake...but other than that just to hang out. Seems a little silly to do much more than that: the girls seem to be sort of unaware of the concept of the birthday just yet;-)

I also have an answer to my question from the last post...and the answers that I got seem to forget that she has a lot of friends from other schools. Because the kids from her school come from a pretty wide area, she has friends in a lot of places through her school friends. Add in that she is ridiculously good looking and it starts to make sense. In addition to that, I think she is super easy to ask out...she is incredibly friendly and not really very intimidating, so I don't think that boys feel like she will do anything but be nice to them. Also, the boyfriend seems so far away that maybe he seems like he doesn't matter.

Munchkin has, and I kid you not, been invited to two senior proms, three junior proms, three sophomore things and two freshman ones, not counting her own. So the answer is 10 (that I know of) not counting her own. Seriously. Some of them will end up conflicting, I am sure, and I could very well put the kibosh on a couple of them...but basically, he springtime dance card is full.

My only real issue is probably with the Senior Proms. One is her own school, which I will probably be OK with...but those tend to be much bigger events, and the kids usually go somewhere afterward and maybe head away for the weekend. She can definitely go to the prom, but whether or not I let her go anywhere afterward depends on who else will be there...if a couple of her older girls friends are going, then I will probably let her.

The other senior prom I am more on the fence...I would probably let her go to the prom, but nothing afterward. I don't know the boy at all, nor any of his friends. Same goes for at least one of the Junior Proms...the two others are for her school, and with on of Smoking Hot Roommate's cousin's kids. And besides, those are much less ado than the senior proms are.

Regardless, she is clearly the most popular girl in New England:-)

Oh...stuff

So, a brand new reader sent me a lengthy email the other day and noted that I don't really talk about myself that much, at least in terms of the challenges or frustrations of managing work, children, etc. And looking back, I guess that is true...I really don't. Obviously, you all know that I suspended school for a semester, but I don't really write on a day to day basis about how hard it can sometimes be.

The big reason, I think, is that I tend to not write at all when I am that busy. Some people use their blog as an outlet, but I tend to cut mine out when I don't have time. But make no mistake, I have had plenty of days where I couldn't concentrate because I was so tired, or forgot to wear socks (happened:-)) or whatever. And I have often thought about how nice it would be to curl up under my desk and take a nap...but I don't really commit those things to virtual paper very often. Which I guess means that I am leaving a lot out, because the day-to-day of the babies is pretty all encompassing.

And no, I didn't want anyone to think that I just breeze through these things with little or no effort...it is HARD. You know, like when LK wakes up at 3:30 in the morning and just wants to hang out. Not grumpy, not hungry...just not very tired. Which thankfully hasn't happened since...oh...last night:-P. Or when they get sick like last week and it is impossible to keep them in clean clothes, or to keep the sheets in their cribs free of throw-up. Even if I don't write about it...it is all there!!!

Anyway, on a more enjoyable and fun note...special contest of the day with no prizes:-) Anyone want to guess how many proms Munchkin has been invited to? This includes senior and junior proms, as well as freshman and sophomore year-end banquets or whatever...

Budget

President Obama has proposed a 10 year budget that calls for something like $10 Trillion in new debt.

Paul Ryan has proposed a budget that, for all the talk about slashing spending, calls for something like $5 Trillion in new debt over the next ten years.

Obviously, there are clear differences and major divergences worth debating. My question is...why are these our only choices? Why are we totally unwilling to demand that our leaders produce some plan that calls for ever balancing the budget? Where is the voice that is offering a 10 year budget that calls for $0 in new debt, or even retiring some of the debt we have?

Am I missing something?

More birthdays

I am now the proud guardian of a permitted sixteen year old girl. God help me.

As of now, she owns zero cars, and it looks like maybe that will remain the case for the foreseeable future. However, her pretend sisters fully intend to include her in their trip sometime in the coming weeks to buy their new car...which is conveniently the one that she wants, and will be kept in a place where she spends more time than the rest of us. Whatever, it was the best I could do;-)

She had a pretty low key birthday, which has always been her style. She has never wanted to have a big blowout with everyone she knows, always opting instead for much smaller events with her closest friends. This year she just wanted to go out for sushi with five friends and then have three of them sleep over (I nixed the idea of the two boys sleeping over;-)). To that effect, Smoking Hot Roommate, Big Sis and I left the various boys at home with the various babies and took them all out.

In addition to the enjoyable company and food...watching 16 year old girls get ready to go out is absolutely hilarious. And yes, I know that I was once there, but I was never as bad as these girls. You'd think that they were expecting to be hounded by paparazzi and didn't want to appear on an US Weekly worst dressed page. Each of them went through at least a dozen potential outfits, a wide variety of accessories and seemingly three or four different hair styles. Kinda cute, though:-)

Anyway...moving along now to the next birthdays...April 15 marks a big day in our household!!! My baby girls turn 1, and I have managed not to break them yet, which I consider to be a pretty major accomplishment. It is also possible that they will be walking by then, as they are extremely close! (MA is right on the verge, and LK is not far behind). And, just for kicks they are teething again, which means that have been bad sleepers this week...but I still love them:-)

I don't think we are going to do much of a "party" for them, because...well, they are one and don't care. Honestly, I have never been a fan of large first birthday parties (and am told that they are a relatively new phenomenon) as they just seem like another reason to demand presents from people. Obviously, it is worth celebrating, but I think we will just have a casual gathering at the condo for family (well, except for the obvious:-)). I imagine there will be cake:-)

If I had more energy, I would write about being irritated with the Federal Budget process (ask me about my Boise/Phoenix/Wichita analogy!!!) but that is gonna just get me angry...so I will spare you:-)

Char Siu Bao

So, the (hyper-competitive) boys in the office are having an eating contest right now. They are attempting to be the existing office record of eight Char Siu Bao in one sitting.

First of all, I was unaware that we maintained an office record book of eating accomplishments. But given the level of competitiveness amongst the guys here, it does not surprise me one bit.

Second, I am a little bit new to the idea of Char Siu Bao (pronounced "Chow Sow Bow" all the words rhyme...), but basically it is a boneless Chinese spare rib chopped up and baked inside a sort of sweet roll. Not sure if they are common in Chinatown or if there is only one place that makes them, but they are favorites of the boys here.

Third...is there any way that this turned out well?