What Parents Wear According to Sydney

Sydney: We got to see our dance recital costumes today.

Rachel: Oh yeah? What do they look like?

Sydney:  Well the first one is like all white.

Rachel: ...That sounds nice.

Sydney: I know.  And the second one is kind of, um, kind of not for six year olds.

Rachel: You mean it's kind of mature?

Sydney: Yeah, it's like what parents wear.  And I'm really happy about that.  It's like black and gold and what parents wear.

I'm just hoping this means she's dancing in a suit and tie.

The Time I Stole Two Tacos

To begin this story, we must start at the beginning.  Sydney woke up this morning asking if we could go to Kaleidoscope.  I have spoken of Kaleidoscope before.  It's a FREE (this is important later on in the story) activity space run by Hallmark where kids can go paint, make puzzles, and hang out in a black light room.



So we decided to go to Kaleidoscope this afternoon and had a grand old time.



We had such a grand old time that we decided to stay at Crown Center for lunch.  After a brief scuttlebug as to where the girls wanted to eat in the food court, they finally decided on Mexican.  Each girl ordered a taco, and I was so proud of them because they each politely asked for lettuce and salsa while most kids, including some 25 year olds, only like meat and cheese.  Meriahna even asked for guacamole.  The lady behind the counter told me that it was extra, but I thought, "Hey, you only live once. Pile it on! How about some nachos on the side as well!"

The girls grabbed their drinks, and just as Sydney was asking if she could have Orange Crush, I reached my hand into my purse and realized that my wallet wasn't there.  We're talking no wallet, no credit cards, no cash or change to speak of.  Visions of my wallet sitting on my desk at home flashed through my head.  I hadn't needed it all afternoon because Kaleidoscope is FREE.  Through my red-faced shame, I mumbled something about how this has never happened before, while the lady behind the counter eyed me up and down as if I did this all the time.  I talked to the manager and convinced him to let us eat under the agreement that I'd go get money and bring it back ASAP.

Completely embarrassed, I sat down with the girls amid the stares of the other customers.  The girls politely ate their tacos, fully aware of what was going on and loudly discussing how we'll have to go ALL the way home and come ALL the way back to pay the man.  I quickly flashed through possibilities in my brain of people who would be near Crown Center from whom I could borrow money.  On a long shot, I called Katie to see if she was at work.  She wasn't, but while I was accepting her "That sucks," Meriahna leaned over to me and very calmly and politely asked, "Can I have another taco?"

I turned my head toward her in slow motion disbelief.  "Meriahna, we have no money. We can't even pay for the taco you already ate.  How am I supposed to get you another taco?"

"What...I'm hungry..."

Needless to say, Meriahna did not get another taco.  We drove thirty minutes home and thirty minutes back to pay the $12.27 bill.  In the end, I didn't steal the tacos, but I was pretty tempted to stuff those kids meals in my purse, throw one girl under each arm, and hightail it out of there, Philadelphia style.

Meriahna and Sydney's Thankfuls

Rachel: So girls, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Sydney: My family!

Meriahna: Cheese!...and polar bears.

Sydney: And penguins.

Honesty is the Best Policy?

Today I am thankful for words "out of the mouths of babes"...or at least our of Sydney's mouth.

This morning, while the girls were getting ready for school, I was sitting on the stairs waiting to brush their hair.  Sydney came up and sat down next to me.  She took a long look at me and said, "Well, we're getting a little fat aren't we?"  I responded, "Yes, yes we are."

Later today, after showing Sydney and Meriahna my Christmas cards that I just got in the mail from Shutterfly, Sydney pointed to the picture and said, "That's a great picture! It doesn't make you look that fat!"

I'm not sure when she decided that "You're not fat, you're pregnant!" doesn't apply anymore.  But apparently it doesn't...and I'm going to go eat some Girl Scout Cookies before Johnny gets back from his run.

Baby Pictures!

Baby Hutson was working it at his/her 20 week check up. We got to see our huge baby (14 oz thank you very much) on the ultrasound wiggling around and having a jolly good time. Meriahna came with Johnny and me and was absolutely inthralled with the whole thing.



Here's Baby Hutson's tiny little face over there on the right, lying sideways. His/her right hand is pulled up next to his/her face.

In this picture the nurse made an especially big deal that the baby was praying. See the little hands pulled up next to each other sideways on the right side of the middle? When telling Sydney about the ultrasound later, Meriahna said, "Oh my gosh, Syd, it was so cute! The baby was kneeling and praying; Rachel and Johnny taught it well."

Here's the side view of the baby.  I had no idea that we would be able to see through the baby's skin to the bones.  Very good for Halloween.  But you can see its little spine all along the top with its little knees tucked in on the left and the head down on the right. The whole time we were watching it, the baby kept sticking its little skinny butt up in the air; so adorable. (We didn't want to find out the sex, but even the nurse said that she couldn't tell because the baby had modestly crossed its legs the whole time.  Good job, baby.)

Upon looking at this picture, Meriahna's reaction was, "Wow! That is so cute!"

Sydney's reaction was, "It looks like a horse."

Can't please them all.

Tomahawk Park Clean Up

You know you live in Leawood when you go with your elementary school to clean up a park and you only find seven pieces of trash.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Rachel: Do you want to play Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Sydney: Sigh...I love to use knife.

Rachel: What does knife do?

Sydney: Knife can cut scis...no knife can't cut scissors.  Knife can cut ro...no knife can't cut rock.  Knife cuts paper!

Rachel: How is knife any different than scissors?

Sydney: Pause...I like to use orange too.

Rachel: What does orange do?

Sydney: Well, the scissors cut out the pulp of the orange.  The rock smashes the orange, and the paper covers up the orange.

Rachel: So why would I ever want to use the orange?

Sydney: Let's just play.

Mondays

Rachel: So how was school?

Meriahna: Good.

Rachel: Did you hear the thunder storm?

Meriahna: Yes! All I could think was, "I hope Rachel's ok! I hope Rachel's ok!"

Rachel: That is so sweet.

Sydney: All I could think was how people needed to stop freaking out.  It's just a rain storm.

It's Friday!

A Friday trip to Peach Wave after the first week of school was over.

After Sydney did her signature "I'm insane, and I love fro yo!" smile, everyone decided to imitate her.

Fridays are even better when covered in $0.39 per ounce toppings.

A Note on Sydney's Bedroom Door

Apparently cleanliness is extremely important to this first grader.  At least she asked me how to spell "clean."

Butterfly Festival

Trying to suck the last few ounces out of summer that we could, last Friday we went to the butterfly festival at Powell Gardens.

The girls got to see all kinds of rare butterflies, and they also got to hold some monarchs.  Meriahna had them crawling all over her, but Sydney, the fearless one who went off the high dive at age four, was too afraid to hold a butterfly.  She would stick out her finger and then pull it back in fear at the monstrous, horrendous, scary . . . butterfly.

 Something a little less scary was getting to paint flowerpots.  They even gave us a flower to put in them to take home.  I am happy to report that the flowers are still alive.

Speaking of Sydney being fearless, she was at my parents' house a few nights ago and asked Johnny if he could show her the basement.  He took her down there, and she looked inquisitively at him and asked, "Where is the storage room?"  He showed her the dark and scary storage room, and she stormed in, walking all around, wanting to know where the light was.  Johnny said he didn't even want to go in the storage room because it was dark and scary . . . yet apparently not as scary as a butterfly.



More Conversations with Sydney

Sydney: You look like the kind of person who would sneak into somebody's house and steal her barrette. 

Rachel: Ok?

Long Pause

Sydney: My friend has a barrette just like the one in your hair.

__________________________________________

Sydney: How old are you?

Rachel: Twenty-Four

Sydney: That's good for your age.

A Conversation with Sydney

Sydney: Your face looks different.

Rachel: Good different or bad different?

Long Pause

Sydney: In the middle.

Rachel: What is different about it?

Sydney: The picture of you in my room has a lot more freckles. 

When Sydney was really little, she used to ask me what all the spots on my face were.  I told her they were freckles.  She responded, "Pickles?!"  I told her no, "Freckles."  She responded, "Popsicles?!"  At least we know what they are at this point.

Countdown

Countdown to moving day: 9 days

A Little A This, A Little A That

Even though I'm back from Kansas, I thought I'd finish up with one of our last activities. The girls and I decided to make a scrapbook of our trip to California. It turned out to be super adorable, and the girls did it almost all by themselves. Really good way to spend an afternoon.

So after a bittersweet goodbye to everyone in Kansas, I went on my merry way for my second trip to visit Johnny in Augusta. Johnny, at that point, was still living at the Comfort Inn...the army just gets more and more hardcore. As I was partying it up with the Real Housewives of Augusta, I decided to make Johnny some meals. The options were limited as he only had a minifridge, a microwave, and a bathroom sink. Along with peanut butter and jelly, carrots and humus, and take out Chinese, I managed to find this lovely Betty Crocker microwaveable brownie. It was actually decent, and I mean decent like my kids say decent not decent as in acceptable.

I loved spending time with Johnny, but Augusta's not my cup of tea, so I made my way back to our wonderful tiny apartment in Philadelphia. I decided today to make good use of our back patio. I walked to my favorite produce spot, Reading Terminal Market, and picked up some potting soil. Then I walked up to Trader Joe's and got two purple plants, two pink spotted plants, and one pink flour plant. I don't really remember what they are, but they look pretty.

Our new little seating area with the chairs that my mom found on the side of the road. I think I'll have a barbeque out here soon...next project, learn how to barbeque.

California! Part 2

Disney Land? Yes please! Day number 3 was spent at Disney's California Adventure.



They're getting so old! Ironically this picture was taken while their dad was getting a stroller for the two girls. I told them that I refused to push it...I might ride in it, but I refused to push it.

Oddly, there weren't a lot of characters around. The only character that we got a picture with was Minnie Mouse. She's Syd's fav, though, of course, so that was good. I still can't help but think about the person inside of the costume. For those of you who don't know, Johnny's dad, Big Johnny, worked at Disney World when he was in high school and was some of the taller characters for awhile, so because of that I just want to know what the people inside look like! At least the Disney characters are much more high quality that some other characters around. Has anyone been to Time Square and seen Hello Kitty and Elmo? Super creepy. My children will never hug them.

Later that afternoon there was a really fun parade. Each float was based on a Disney Pixar movie and had some kind of water gun thing connected to it. This Toy Story float had cool gymnasts. You can see the one doing flips on the bar that's in the T-Rex's mouth.

My divas. Looking amazing in those 3-D glasses. The muppets were doing it long before Avatar and Step Up 3D.

So to end the night in Disney Land, there was this huge black light dance party with all these crazy professional dancers up high on platforms. Please notice Meriahna's Goofy hat that she purchased. She loves Goofy and loves being goofy, so it was a good fit. Please also notice that Sydney is holding a giant corn on the cob up in the air. Seriously. Only Sydney would find corn on the cob in Disney Land and then dance with it.

After the beach, the pool, and Disney, we were all a little sunned out. We decided on day four to go to this really big mall and do some back to school shopping. I took Meriahna to Gap Kids while everyone else went to find Austin some shoes. Mers and I had so much fun. It's like dressing a real live Barbie doll. We got some skinny jeans, which in a kid's size 8 look like they could actually fit a Barbie, and a whole bunch of fun skirts, dresses, and tops. While in the dressing room she kept saying, "I just love this. I just love trying on clothes!" We've created a monster.

And would it really be a vacation without a trip to the Rain Forest Cafe? I think not. This amazing balloon man/boy was going around the restaurant and making animals for all the kids. Meriahna asked for, yes, a fishing rod with a fish on it. I think it turned out pretty well.

Sydney asked for a monkey up in a tree and specifically asked for the colors yellow and blue. The whole balloon thing lasted about thirty minutes before she twisted it too much and popped it on the escalator. Definitely cool while it lasted.

For our last night, Mers and Syd and I had a sleep over. We watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid and bonded over Trader Joe's cheetos. I consider myself so blessed to be able to spend time with these kids. Getting to watch them grow up and be a part of that has been something so amazing that I will never be able to describe it. I hope with all my heart that my children are half as wonderful and beautiful both inside and out as these kiddos, and it's breaking my heart to leave them again.

love love love.

California! Part One

Just got back from a wonderful trip to Huntington Beach, CA with the Adams family. We had soo much fun and took tons of pics.



The first night I was there, we rented out two of the bike mobile things and got pulled up and down the beach.

The beach.

Meriahna and Sydney loved it and made friends with the bike riders. The two biker dudes raced each other, and Sydney created two teams. Our team was "The Winners," and the other team was "The Hutsons." hmmm.

That night brought a flood of s'mores. The kids' hotel had fire pits all over the place, and you could buy s'mores sets. The kids did a really good job with it until Meriahna wasn't paying attention to where her burning stick was headed. Don't worry, I survived.

The next day was, can you tell?, the American Girl Place! Sydney and Meriahna got a few outfits, some books, and a really cool campfire set.

Poor Josephina finally got her hair done. There was a two hour wait in the beauty salon, no joke. Definitely worth the $20 if you had seen Josephina's hair before.

I wanted to take a picture of the girls with their spoils of war. I thought it was fitting that Meriahna held up the receipt that's about as long as she is. I think I had as much fun as they did at the store. It brought back fond memories of the American Girl Fashion Show and saving up my money for different American Girl clothes. Johnny is praying that we have all boys.

The next day was spent at the really cool pool area at the kids' hotel. There were water slides and a huge hot tub. Sydney, of course, made friends with everyone. And the girls spent a large amount of time timing how long they could hold their breath under water. We all got a little bit of sun this day, but it was totally worth it.

That night we went to dinner at the Crab Cooker. I love this picture because I have one just like it from three years ago.

Too presh for words.

So this dinner actually needs more of an explanation than I have given. We got to the restaurant, took the photo, and then put our names on the list. It turned out that the wait was going to be about 45 minutes, so Austin asked if we could go back to hotel that was seven minutes away and get his book. I said I would take him, so Sydney, Austin, and I get in the car and leave the restaurant. We have directions that I start following. The key word there is "start." Somehow along the way we get terribly lost. Like no ocean in site kind of lost.

The only thing Austin and I are thinking is if we can get back to the ocean, we'll be able to take the Pacific Coast Highway back to the restaurant. Only problem, the sun is quickly setting, and once the sun is gone, I have no way of knowing where my North, South, East, and West are.

So we use our Girl Scouting skills and driving toward the setting sun.

Sydney did her best to help with the directions. All of a sudden, we turned a corner, the trees parted, and there was the ocean! We followed the water back to the restaurant, arriving very soon after Scott and Meriahna had been seated. We never got the book.

Now during the meal, Sydney decided that she did not want anything to do with seafood but instead, wanted pizza. There was a pizza place across the street, and Scott took her there after we ate, leaving us to get the bill and finish up. Austin very politely pulls the waitress aside and says, "When you get a minute, would you mind bringing us the check?" She says sure, and we wait a minute or too. We see her walking toward us. She puts a carton of Vitamin D milk on the table and walks away. We all look at each other, and I'm pretty sure one of us says, "Maybe the check is in the milk?" The check was not in the milk, and another waitress brought us the bill a few minutes later. The milk was not on the bill, and we still have no idea why the original waitress brought us milk.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Disney Land!