i have nothing to write about!!!

yet i feel compelled to update. so, i'll start a new blog theme. it'll be called, "our lives today: a snapshot" and i'll just write about the trivial things that are going on in our lives, and in 20 years it'll all seem so dated and poignant. god, my genius astounds even myself sometimes.

today, nina is:
reading welcome to dead house, ghost camp, and scary stories to tell in the dark 3. she likes to play with her fur real friend sara but she desperately wants a real dog. her favorite games to play are kids on stage, stare, and candyland. she loves to draw pictures, especially of houses, people, birds, trees, rainbows, and leprechauns.

today, maggie is:
obsessed with the rainbow fairies series, which i hate reading, because i think they're awful. i did read the first few chapters of charlotte's web to her today, and that was fun. she likes to play with her ponies, especially a match up with the angry birds called "angry birds reverses ponies." she also likes to wash her toys and ponies, and have tea parties. she loves to draw pictures of ponies. i let her use the dry erase markers on the windows, and so our windows are usually covered with drawings of ponies, sometimes with wings, and sometimes holding scissors (a little scary? yes.)

i wasn't going to do nick or myself, but why not! nick is reading the given day and i'm reading the biography of catherine the great. the girls are sound asleep (maggie has a big of a runny nose), and we're just chillaxin'!

snow this morning!

unbelievable. it went from 80 degrees to an inch of snow! well, it melted pretty quickly, then it rained, then it was dry, then it hailed, then it was dry, and now it's raining again.

but we're not here to talk about the weather! the girls and i had some fun this afternoon playing with the new digital camera. nina was in an especially exuberant mood!






omg that took forever to upload. but great picture quality!

it's cold again!

waahh! i hope my tulips will be ok! it was 80 last week, and now we're supposed to go down to something like 20 tonight. fricassee!! (it's a curse word around here now). i spent all last week transplanting those purple flowers we have on the patio (for some reason i think they're hostas) and the orange day lilies along the patio's wall, and i'd hate to lose them.

yes, they are hostas. here's a pic:

and here's a photo of the day lilies:

well, hopefully they survive the transplant. they'll look really neat in their new homes.

anyway, it was so cold that maggie and i decided to bake some banana bread with her friend hattie. unfortunately, something was wrong with my baking powder (too old i think), and it didn't rise at all. i knew it was a bit old, so i added an extra half-teaspoon, which didn't help it rise and just added to that baking powder flavor. maggie was not a fan.

"do you like our banana bread?:" i asked.
"no!" she responded. "it tastes like dirt!"

thanks kiddo, but you could have just stopped at no. she was adorable yesterday though, when she was looking at some of the books that nina made way back at preschool and repeatedly exclaimed, "nina, these are so good! i'm so proud at you!"

awww! they love each other so much.

the spelling bee!!

what fun! mom and nick didn't win (their team was called the killer bees) but they did a great job. they went out on fricassee. the words in that bee were really hard! hossay, parerphernilia, catastrophe, balustrade... see, some i can spell, some i can't. fluorescent! i knew that one. well, i just typed it wrong (thank you spellcheck!), but i'm pretty sure i got it right last night. oh, and get this: i won a prize! not a top prize, but a minor prize for coming in second place (along with like, 10 other people) in the literary quotes competition. i knew pretty much all of those (except the name of the dr.seuess book that quote was from, and i missed the harry potter quote. guess i should have read those after all!). that was an audience challenge portion of the night: they read a word that we had to spell (1 point) (spell correctly of course. i missed at least 2 of these), then we had to name the work the quote came from (1 point), and the author (1 point). the other quotes were from a tale of two cities, the road less traveled (turns out there's just one L in traveled, but spelling in the titles didn't count. phew!), and twilight.

when mom called last night to tell us who won the bee (a team of teachers from our school. it was down to them and a team from lincoln academy. glad boothbay won it!), nick said to nina "we didn't win the lobster."
"i don't like lobster," said nina.
"mom did win a hat though," he said.
"i like hats!" enthused nina. "can i have it?!"

so there you go, a hat is better than lobster. i think maggie would disagree though.

maggie was considered by many to be the highlight of the evening. the first time the killer bees took the stage, she cheered very softly "go grandma! go papa! do your best!" (do your best! how cute!). then, when they were spelling catastrophe (m-a-g-g-i-e, that's how i would have spelled it), she was trying to yank one of those giant gym floor mop/brooms that they use at the school down on her head. i had to dart over to pull her away. and then, when they took the stage to spell fricassee, she yelled "GO PAPA! GO GRANDMA!! WOO HOO!! GO!!" and it was so, so cute. she sounded just like a little cheerleader. i had a quick moment of fear, because you can never be sure what that kid's going to say when she has everyone's attention, but she was perfect. whew!

hey, stay tuned for more pictures. we just got a new digital camera!

a funny maggie story i had forgotten to tell!

on tuesday, i took maggie up to damariscotta for a la leche meeting. it didn't happen (long story), so one of the moms and i took the kids to the lonna bunting playground (vanessa and erik, they took down the old, amazingly fun, head-bumping, splinter-giving, wooden playground, and replaced it with some modern plastic stuff. nice that i didn't have to pick out any splinters, but sad to see such a fun playground gone). anyway, maggie was dressed sweetly in a skirt and t-shirt, and at one point pulled out her pony notebook (it's a notebook filled with pony sketches. that's pretty much all she draws) and began to draw--you guessed it!--a pony! this one was named happy bat. picture it: she was up on a higher landing by a slide, lying on her tummy, drawing--her beautiful curls lit up in the late morning sun. another mom who happened to be at the playground with her little boy came up to maggie and asked,
"do you like ponies?"

"GO AWAY!!!" maggie yelled at her. you can only imagine her tone of voice.

ohhh, i was so embarrassed. i apologized, and the mom said it was ok. i made maggie apologize too, and she did.
"i'm sorry i was rude," she said sweetly to the mom.
"that's ok," said the mom, and patted her on the head.
"HRUMPH!" grunted maggie, storming off with a scowl.

i apologized again. that child! she looks so sweet, but i tense up every time she opens her mouth.

oh yes, and afterwards we went to the hannaford there. she was so good and helpful at the store, and i told her so when we were done shopping.
"so you don't hate me?!" she asked, loudly.

where does this come from? at least no one there knows us, and can't report me to child services.
(and of course, i told her, for the millionth time, that i never have and never will hate her, etc, etc, but i'm sure she'll say it again. she tells me every day in a sweet voice that she hates me. and it's opposite day. and she doesn't hate me. and it's opposite day. and she loves me. and it's not opposite day... she can go on and on for hours.)

82 today!

oh me oh my. i was trying to transplant some of our flowers today, in advance of our new patio going in (yay!), AND IT WAS JUST TOO HOT! oops, i didn't mean to turn caps lock on, but i think it was quite the apt accident. i moved a few clumps of dirt, and i was just boiling. you don't realize just how strong the maine sun is in march until it's bearing down on you through a cloudless 80 degree sky. hopefully tomorrow i can do some more, it should only be in the 60s tomorrow (only!).

you can tell that my weight lifting is beginning to pay off, by the way. i have only mild blistering on my hands after nearly a week of transplanting. you might not recognize me the next time you see me!

today was a pretty typical thursday. maggie and i hung out around the house, playing ponies and other such fun, then dance dance dance after school and a mad rush home and quick dinner. today was quesadillas with leftover chicken and tomatoes. the girls loved them. i have to remember to make them again!

don't expect a post tomorrow night--we'll be at the high school, cheering on mom, nick, and the third teemmate (i gess dad and i just arnt good enuf spelers!). kros yur fingres for temh!

80 degrees today...

so, we went to the beach!

what a lovely day! the breeze coming in off of the water was pretty chilly, so nina and i needed jackets. maggie was fine without one, of course. both girls dipped their toes in the ocean (and so did i, but only because i had to rinse out the buckets and shovels). it wasn't too bad. hendrick's head is really, really shallow, so the mud bakes in the sun for about 100 or 200 feet during low tide. it really heats up the water. it was probably mid-50 degrees.

it was quite sunny!

nina and some of her girlfriends

maggie brushing sand off her hands while she waits for me to take a picture

a photo of me, courtesy of nina

rinsing off in the water wagon at home. our fun summer alternative to a bath! (that's a cheese stick in maggie's hand)

we're supposed to get more of this again tomorrow. i love it!

what a lovely march day!

it's warm again. it's been warm for a few days now. it's amazing how quickly i get used to the idea that it's summer. i'm sure at some point, seasonal weather will return, and it'll be quite the shock. but not any time in the immediate future!! the forecast is for the 60s and 70s all week, with perhaps some 50s returning for friday. but seeing as they were forecasting 50s for today even yesterday, and we wound up in the mid-60s, what do they know. in this crazy, post-global warming world, all the old models are useless.

of course you won't be surprised to hear that i've started tomato, lettuce, and sunflower seedlings. outside, the tulips i put in last fall are coming up, and so are the tiger lilies and that purple flower on the side of the patio against the house. since we're digging up the patio soon to put in a concrete one, i'm slowly trying to transplant them. hopefully they survive transplantation! i'm putting them around the trees in the island in the middle of the driveway, and a few more along one side, where the well is. i hope they take there, because they're pretty flowers and nice greenery. cross your fingers for them!

so, the ladies of the halter house got quite a treat this weekend. PBS showed a performance of the phantom of the opera! it started at 7:00 pm on saturday and ran until 10:30. nina did NOT want to quit watching even though she was exhausted. fortunately, it was supermom to the rescue! i looked ahead in the guide, and saw that it was playing again at 1:00 pm on sunday. so, we were able to pick up right where we left off. even though it was 70 degrees and endlessly wonderful outside, we were in the house at 2:30 on the dot to watch. such a gorgeous performance! nina loved that the phantom was much creepier than the film version, but she says she preferred the long-haired raoul from the film. she liked both christines equally. i love it! poor nick is just going to have to get used to seeing more musicals. but which one next... annie? west side story? the sound of music again? mary poppins?!!!! i'm in heaven!

yesterday was report card day!

nina's was fantastic, of course. she's smart, well-behaved, and fun to be around. her teacher says she's shy in class, which i knew because i've seen her reluctance to raise her hand, and her tiny, timid little voice when she does. hopefully that's something she outgrows.

i didn't write last night because we went to our friend jenn's house (her son is one of nina's classmates) for a st. patrick's day dinner. yum! by the time we got the kids home and asleep, i was ready for bed too. but the kids had a great time, and the corned beef and cabbage was delicious!

today is going to be beautiful--some very warm weather is moving back in, so i think we'll be outside most of the weekend. right now it's just 9:15 am, and the girls are watching the phantom of the opera one last time before we have to return it. obviously we're going to have to buy it! listening to maggie sing the music that plays when the phantom comes on stage (da, dat da da da da!!!!) is just too cute.

now it's cold again.

i do believe it's snowing right now. ahh, spring in maine! and do you want to know how excited about spring we are around here? this excited!!


actually, that's probably her "my little pony is on" face, but whatever. artistic license.

maggie really doesn't watch that much TV, and most of what she does watch is either on PBS or on demand, so she doesn't see very many commercials at all. the exception to this is that she does sometimes watch my little pony in the morning on Hub, so she sees the commercials they show there. and boy oh boy, does this kid remember everything. at one point a few days ago i was watching with her, and a commercial came on for a company that adds insulation to your existing home. maggie turned to me and said, "it keeps your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer." another day she was telling me about the latest toy she wants and then added, "but that's sold separately." she's an advertiser's dream!

speaking of my little pony, here's nina's tribute to them:



that's got to be some kind of modern art, no? and can you believe how long her hair has gotten? it takes me half an hour to brush it out after a shampoo, because it's so fine, and there's so much of it, but she really likes it long, so i go along with it. i don't mind, really. it's a nice bit of quiet, quality time for us.

so warm today!!!!!!!!!!

wow, it was either 70 degrees or very nearly that. beautiful. nina played hooky because it was papa's birthday, and how could she just go off to school all day on papa's birthday?! insanity. it was too nice out for me to make her go (and turning off the alarm clock and going back to sleep at 6:30 is just way too easy for me), so home it was!

we had a great day. nina watched the phantom of the opera (again, it's her new favorite movie), we played outside for hours, rode the ATV, went into town, walked on the footbridge (whereupon we met a nice couple out walking their 2 dogs. "let's have a meeting!" maggie suggested to them, and we walked along the footbridge together. when i told maggie we had to head our separate ways to go to the store, she turned to them and asked if they wanted to come with us). too cute. and of course, we cooked, cooked, cooked. devils chocolate cupcakes for nick, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, and cream of asparagus soup. boy is he spoiled!

the whole week is supposed to be just lovely. 50s mostly, with perhaps one or two days dipping down to the 40s. and people say there's no global warming. balderdash!! (haha, i had to work that in there. i said something to maggie a few days ago, i don't remember what, and she responded "balderdash!" she's like a 3-year-old little girl version of mr. burns sometimes).

zzzzzzzzzzz

that's why i haven't blogged in a while. i've been so tired at night, i've been going to sleep right after putting the girls to bed. and since putting the girls to bed is a process that starts at 7, i haven't had time!

things have been good otherwise, though. nina went on a field trip with her class (actually with kindergarten through 4th grade) to see the lorax at a movie theater in thomaston. she had a great time. i was less than thrilled with the idea of her sitting on a bus, in a movie theater, or at mcdonald's all day. she didn't fall asleep until 9:30 last night, because she just didn't get enough energy out. oh well, she had fun.

also yesterday, maggie and i were playing outside (it was in the high 50s on thursday and just about 40 yesterday, but the sun was very warm), and she decided she was going to vroom off to grandma's (that's what she calls it). she tripped on the path and scraped her knee just a teensy bit. in the car 5 minutes later, on the way to picking up nina, she was examining her injury and she began to vaguely remember that this wasn't the first time she's tripped on the path. then,

"what the hell!" she yelled. "i've done this before, i remember!"

it was too funny. she was so annoyed with herself for not having learned a lesson from falling the first time! she decided she shouldn't run any more. i told her kids fall when they run, but running is healthy and she should do it anyway, just that she should wear jeans. she seemed to warm to that idea, so who knows. maybe the pajama thing is just about over and she'll enter the jeans phase. i'll keep you posted.

the fort

here's nina's snow fort, as promised! turns out the camera cable was right next to me last night, not upstairs like i thought, but the camera was still in my coat pocket in the closet (you know, right next to the spoon and the candy), so it was just too much to organize last night. not that i have much more energy tonight, but i did drink some tea after dinner. crazy tuesday night!!

anyway, here it is:




she threw 6 snowballs at me, i threw some at her, and then she was done and it was destruction time.



there's one happy kid!

(unlike her sister, who has taken to calling me her enemy. i mean, emeny. and tonight, she put her hands on her hips, pouted, and told me "i'm so mad at you!" when i told her she couldn't go downstairs to get her book because i'd latched the gate).

the girls have a new favorite movie

on friday, i went to a friend's house for a moms' night out. nick stayed with the girls and they watched a movie--ace ventura, pet detective. or as the girls call it, ace the keeper. maggie actually fell asleep watching it, so i got to stay out late (9:45!!). when she woke up in the morning, she immediately asked why i'd left her, and then launched right into an explanation of ace the keeper. he makes his butt talk! he put on a tutu! he walked on bubble wrap! and he thought a shark was a dolphin and said, "do not go in there!" it was too funny.

we got a few inches of snow overnight and this afternoon, nina built a snow fort. she was so excited about it. i would attach pictures, but i'm too tired to get up and download them. tomorrow.

snow day!!

what fun, a snow day today!! well, it was kind of fun. we didn't get to be outside in it much, because it was snowing all day long. and windy. drive the snow into your eyes and neck snowy/windy. maggie hates this kind of weather, so she begrudgingly was out in it long enough to get to grandma's, but that's it. nina and i stayed out for a little while, but once she started to get snow in that gap between her boots and her snowpants, it was immediately over for her too. good thing grandma had some hot cocoa, potato chips, and cartoons ready! seriously, these girls live in little kid heaven.

after cartoons, they played upstairs for a while, and eventually found some old dresses of mine and vanessa's to dress up in. maggie wore vanessa's dark blue old prom dress, and nina was in the dress i wore as a bridesmaid in bethany's wedding. it was tea-length on me, but floor length for her, and strapless. nina loved it, and wants to wear it all the time.

mom thought it looked adorable too, but not for a real party. "you're too young still to wear a strapless dress," she said.

"grandma," said nina, "you're forgetting. i'm six and a half years old!"

haha! six and a half!

it was like the other day, when nina was hot and decided to wear her old swimsuit all day. "isn't that suit getting a little small nina?" said nick.
"no!" said nina, "it's not too small!"

"whoa!" i said, "that's a conversation i wasn't expecting to have for another 10 years!"

ba-dum-BA!