adventures in mommy-ing: 2012

The big news around here is that we have a...TA DA...6-year-old in the house! So of course that comes with a celebration of sorts...well, actually, a few of them. Miss M enjoyed a host of activities to commemorate the big 6, including a family party, a trip to the ice rink with a few friends (in lieu of a full-fledged friend party), and taking treats into school.

And of course we captured everything on camera. First, the birthday dinner at the restaurant of her choice (no frills here at McD's playland):

Then, open skate at the rink, complete with chocolate cupcakes!

Back home to our family gathering (sans Grandma/Kappa Smith, who both had nasty colds that day). It was about 75 degrees on this March 18, 2012! Peace signs were the requested theme this year. Definitely one of the easier decorating feats I've tackled over the years!

Special guests include Aunt Mary Ann, giraffe, and Cousin Isaac.

I should post comparison pictures from over the years, but since the photo feature is giving me grief, I'll sav that for another post!

Really? It's 2012? That's hard to believe. Especially when I start doing math related to this date. Like, I graduated from high school--gulp--19 years ago. College 15 years ago. K and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary in February. I've been a mom for almost 6 years. Where o' where did the time go?

But I'm trying not to dwell on dates and years. Because there are so many great things happening NOW...so I'd rather focus on that.

For one, I've been trying to build my business back up. I'm embracing social networking with a vengeance, from Facebook (like my biz page!) to Twitter (follow me!) to LinkedIn to my biz blog. The issue, however (as always), is trying to find a balance between getting work done and being an attentive mom. While Miss M is in school all day, Miss A is not. And she naps intermittently so I can't always count on time in the afternoon to work, which means lots of late nights. So the struggle continues, but still, I wouldn't trade this situation for anything. Thanks to K, who works hard to make this possible! Anyway--now that I've shamelessly plugged my links--I'll move on to family stuff.

So what's new with...

...Miss M? Well, she's really grown. And I mean that in many ways. Literally, she's growing! We can't keep her in pants long enough to cover her ankles for long. But she's also becoming more mature in other ways. She's reading really well, and writing, too. The things they learn in kindergarten are waaaay different from what I remember. She surprised me recently by counting by 10's and 5's...something I'm pretty sure I didn't learn to do for another couple of grades. She's overcoming her shyness a bit, too...while she still doesn't love speaking in front of groups of people, she's doing better. She makes friends quickly and has decided she loves ice skating (we went last week). Her imagination is as fired up as always, which is always neat to see. Now, if she'd just get out of that dawdling stage (mornings are not fun in our house)!

...Miss A? She's a typical 2-year-old at times, but more often than not she's really fun to be around. Her language skills are excellent...while she's been communicating quite well for a while now, she asks questions and gives answers in pretty good detail. She's lovable and loves giving kisses, hugs, and "I love you's." We're working on potty training somewhat...not hardcore, but when she shows interest we definitely take advantage of it. Recently I've started taking her to story hour at the libraries, and she has been enjoying it. One thing we're struggling with, though, is hitting. Usually she hits M, but occasionally if she's angry, it's me. She get a time-out in her room when she hits, but it seems like this goes in one ear and out the other because she'll turn around and do it again a few minutes later. (Feel free to chime in if anyone's dealt with this!)

Here's a brief visual recap of our past few months:

Tradition: building the gingerbread house!