Thanksgiving Parties at School

The kids all had Thanksgiving parties at school today. Brayden's class did a short play,which was very cute. Brayden did a great job with his lines. I would like to say I helped him learn them, but he had them memorized on his own before I got involved. After the show, his class had a very good lunch for the children and all of us parents. I went over to Brookelyn's classroom in time to watch her finish her lunch and tuck her onto her cot before naptime. I still can't go down to Sasha's room without her crying when I leave, but I know they had a Thanksgiving feast as well.

Very Sweet

Last night, after we got home from school, all three of the little ones started singing holiday songs. Brookelyn stood up and pretended to read the songs from a sheet of paper she was holding. She had her hand on her hip and was dancing at the same time as singing. Sasha went and stood up next to her and sang along. They held hands after they finished singing a couple of songs and bowed. It was soooo cute. And then Brayden stood up and all three sang songs for us. It was one of the sweetest moments I have had as a parent and I loved it. I didn't take any pictures of it because I decided to be in the moment instead.
I just got home from work. I stayed late to chaperone a dance that the middle school students put together. They did everything-- organizing who brought what food and drinks, decorating, making up a couple of games to play at the dance, setting up the sound system and helping clean up. They did a really nice job. They also came up with the rule that if anyone was asked to dance they had to say yes. So no one had hurt feelings and everyone had fun. There are only thirty students in our middle school and twenty came to the dance, so it was a pretty good turn out. Everyone was very well behaved and there was only one moment when I had to step in. Two boys decided they were going to each chug a small bottle of soda. I stopped them pretty quickly, but not soon enough for them not to feel the pain of it. Very fun night and I have a feeling this is the beginning of several more dances for the year.

End of November

Well, we bought a new minivan that looks exactly like our old minivan. White van with tan exterior. This one does have the blue tooth, so I can talk legally while I drive, as well as the mechanical rear door opener. Both are great. Also, this one had something like nine miles and our old one had over 88,000 miles. And had been rear ended and had a ding on the side from where someone had backed into me. The car looked great for at least two days and now looks and smells the same as the other one. I love it and am very happy to have a car that I don't have to worry about the miles on for years. There are too many other things to think about.
The whole getting the girls to share a room thing has been exhausting. One or the other wakes up several times a night. I think I went into the room about fourteen times one night. I think I said I would give it two weeks and then put Sasha back into her room if it didn't work. It may be two weeks, but I am way to tired to do the math and see. Last night I went in five times. I am forty five years old, but pretty sure I look about sixty lately. Today I was trying to concentrate on something at work and just couldn't really focus. I thought I would focus better when I wasn't taking cold medicine. Then I remembered that I hadn't taken any cold medicine because I didn't even have a cold. I am tired. Luckily the girls are very cute.
I brought Brayden to swim team practice after school again today. It started at 5:15, so it was already dark. He didn't want to swim, but I didn't want him to think he could just not go to practice if he didn't feel like it. Otherwise I could see years of fighting ahead of us. I am very big on teaching kids to follow through on what they start. I told him he just had to swim one lap and we could go home. He was not happy, but he got in. Once he was in I wandered away from the pool so he wouldn't see me. He stayed in for the whole practice and I was really proud of him. He was the youngest child there by at least four years. I told him that we could stop going to practices until spring and we went out to celebrate him doing such a good job. He and I went out for dinner together. He chose In-N-Out for dinner. It was really nice just being with him. I don't even remember the last time he and I went out together. We talked about his friends, his school, and his class play. At the end he told me that we should go out to dinner together again so we could watch the employees make french fries while we talked. He is getting much easier as he gets older.

Carless

We have been leasing my van for the last few years. It was coming to the end of the lease and we kept going back and forth about buying it. We decided on Saturday to sell it so I listed it that afternoon. I posted pictures of it last night and Ray sold it before lunchtime today. It was a little irritating moving all of my things to Ray's car and my office, until I realized that he was doing all of the work and I didn't have to do any of it. Oh, and I would be getting a new car out of it. We are planning to get a Honda Oddysey again. I love that car. Ray is really good at bargaining, so I won't even have to go to the dealership. For right now we are renting a Toyota van until we get the new one. I am really looking forward to getting a new car. The other one had a lot of miles from driving Dakota to and from her high school, which was far away. Also, this one will have the bluetooth in it, which will be great.
I love my new camera. It is a camera and also a HD camcorder. It takes great pictures. I haven't figured out how to download video yet, but I am hoping it is great too. It looks just like a camera so I can keep it in my purse. I love being able to take pictures of my kids again. Speaking of pictures of my kids...I spent half of last night on the floor in Sasha and Brookelyn's bedroom again. I don't even remember which one of them woke up first, I just know all three of us woke up on the rug again. Kind of painful at my age. These pictures are from tonight right after they went to bed. Soooo cute when they area sleeping.

New Camera

I gave Dakota my camera when she went to college, which is why I haven't posted any pictures lately. I bought one last week for Halloween, but it the pictures were pretty awful quality. Ray and I bought one today that I LOVE. Here are the cute ones I took today before bedtime.

New beds

Brookleyn and Sasha got new beds. Sasha learned how to get out of her bed months ago, but it has taken me a long time to get her a toddler bed. It is actually not that easy to find a nice, white toddler bed. Anyway, I ordered two so the girls would have the same ones in case they ever shared a room. I knew I wanted them to share a room some day, because I thought they would both like it. Ray and Brayden put one of them together while the girls and I were out shopping. I called my mom and asked her to meet me at a local mall to help so I could get Sasha's ears pierced. Sasha has been asking me to get her ears pierced since we had Brookelyn's done a few months ago. We went a while ago but only one person was working and they have tow people do it for younger kids. My mom lives close by, but we actually don't get to see her that much. If you are wondering why, re-read about what it is like when we eat out or leave swim practice and you will understand. After today, it may be awhile before she goes out with us again. It started out nice, she watched the girls while I bought them a few pairs of pajamas. And Sasha was fine until I paid for the earrings. Suddenly she wanted no part of it. She started saying, "My mommy, I don't want my ears pierced." I decided to do it anyway, since I knew she would start asking for earrings when we got home. She cried a little before they pierced her ears, but the worst thing was afterwards. She was upset for about a half hour. She clung to me and kept telling me her ears hurt. Even sitting down to eat with my mom didn't help, which is really unusual for Sasha. She was fine by the time we got to Brayden's soccer game, though, and has been happy about it ever since.
After the game, I took Bradyen to a birthday party and left the girls at home with Ray. While we were gone, they put together the other bed. His version is that he put together the bed and they worked as a team to take apart the house. I think that is about right. When I got home both beds were in Brookelyn's room and the girls wanted to sleep in them. I thought we could try it and see how it went. Brookelyn usually sings or talks in her room for over and hour (sometimes two hours), so it may not work. Also, Sasha gets up really early and I don't want her waking Brookleyn up. I read them a few books, let them look at books in their beds for a few minutes and then sat in the room while they fell asleep. It went well tonight, but I am sure it is because they both missed nap time today. I think we'll give it a week or two. I hope it works, I think it will be fun for both of them. Brayden is in a sleeping bag on the floor in our room tonight, which he thinks is fun. I told him he could sleep in the girl's room too (since it is Saturday night), but he wanted to sleep with us.

Halloween Pictures

We had a great Halloween. I borrowed my sister's police officer uniform, Brayden was a Power Rang@r (he found the costume at my sister's cabin and wanted to wear it, even though he has never seen the show), Brookelyn was a pink fairy princess, and Sasha was a leapord. We had a parade at the school on Friday morning and then went trick or treating with my mom, sisters, their kids, friends...great, great time. Brayden loved being with his cousins, Brookelyn loved being with her cousin, Amaya, and Sasha loved trick or treating with Grandma Bayer. I'll post pictures later