Halloween...a day in pictures

OMG!! How cute is she!!!???

Trunk R Treatin'

Trunk R Treat at school with MNM

End of the Pre-K Halloween party (that we totally missed b/c they started it while we were still manning our cars at the trunk r treat...arrgh!!!!! )

1st stop...MeeMaw & Poppi's house

Stops in MeeMaw's neighborhood... Liv, MeeMaw & Mrs. Beth

Hanging out with Daddy Bear at home before trick r treating in our neighborhood

"MOM, is it dark yet? Can we go?!" YEP, it's dark...here we go!

(added a t-shirt she was not happy about...it was getting chilly)

Leaving our front walk

One of our stops

Halloween...a trial run

Our neighborhood has its Fall fest on Sunday. Food, Music, games for the kids...fun times. We went and had a blast. OG got to see her Halloween Ariel costume for the first time on Sunday. It arrived via UPS courtesy of the FL grandparents about 2 mths ago. We hid it so it wouldn't get torn up. The bad thing is the shoes didn't fit...but we managed to find some acceptable replacements.

Before the party Kay Kay (FL Grandma) did OG's makeup and Daddy Bear (Fl Grandpa) supervised and took pix (he is good at that). She unfortunately did not want to wear the wig. I tried it on to coax her but she wanted nothing of it. Must be residual trauma from the cap study last week, OOPS. we also had to put on a short sleeved leotard under her outfit b/c it was a bit cool. She did not want to wear it b/c "Ariel doesn't wear that!" but we convinced her it was Ariel's winter wardrobe. ha not sure WHAT we are gonna do on actuall halloween night when it is cooler.

So sans wig, but cute as can be, we went off ot the neighborhood Fall Fest. Lots of our neighbors and neighborhood friends were there. I have pix on my camera of the actual event that I will download soon. It was great!

musical genius?

I was contacted by a friend last week about a study of the impact of music on preschoolers. It seemed like a pretty cool study. You get $50 for your 1st visit (last night) and $50 for your last visit (in May'ish 2009) and there is the possibility of your child getting FREE Violin lessons!

Here are the details:

If you can't read it it basically says...you go in for the assessment...they put a little cap on your head with electrodes thast monitor brain activity...they also put 2 electrodes on your chest to monitor heart rate...they play games, ask questions, do little IQ or logic activities that are geared toward 4 yr olds...then they evaulate that info. You are then able to participate in a random drawing that same night to either 1) get FREE violin lessons once a week at the GSO Music Academy (free Violin rental and everything!) or 2) participate in a home study where you spend time talking about music and doing activites with your child (this one is OBVIOUSLY not the one you want to WIN)....then 9 mths later you come back and they re-evaulate you. So the bummer if of course if you do this and you don't get the violin lessons.

So we went last night...and I thought it would be easy. And I thought OG would do better if I wans't in the room. Turns out she didn't want to put the cap on...she told the lady she didn't like hats (she does) and they took about 6 mins trying to coax her. I then went in and she wouldn't let me put it on her. FINALLY I just kind of got it on there and she was fine...I felt bad pushing her but I knew once it was on she would be OK and forget about it. And that is what happened. They did have to squirt gel into each little electrode (17 in all), so her hair got gunky, but it was all good.

Don't worry...she is NOT having a seizure here. Just getting antsy!

I stayed in the room and they did all sorts of assessments with her (stay with me here)...Arrows would be pointing a certain way on a flip chart and she had to hit a button on either the left or right corresponding with the side that the arrow was pointing to...seems easy but in watching it "I" sometimes got confused. Sometimes the arrow would be on the right side of the page and be pointing right...and on the left side of the paper and pointing left...time after time...but then it would switch...it would be on the left side of the paper but pointing right....so it would be consistent and then switch on you. A few times when she hit the button for the way the arrow was pointing I thought "oops, she missed that one" but then I looked at it again and she was right. LOL It was just confusing looking...you got into the habit of thinking that the arrow on the left side was always pointing left etc but toward the end it wasn't...but she kept up well. ME? not so much, LOL

Then they had other games where you had to remember stuff and repeat and some were hard...but she mostly got them all right. One game was "hit the button everytime you see an animal that is NOT a pig"...if you see a pig on the page do NOT hit the button. So they would flip and all sorts of animals would be there...she would hit the button...a pig would be on the page they flipped and she would not hit the button...she got it. But then somehow it got weird and hard and even "I" (again) was getting confused....she did hit the button ONCE when a pig showed up...not sure why....there had been maybe 5-8 animals passed over that were NOT pigs and I think she got into the groove of hitting the button. And after she did it she hesitated and looked around like she thought she might have gotten that one wrong. But it was cute.

In part 2 they played games with blocks and puzzles...I was taking my own test on family dynamics etc during this so I missed parts of it, but I cglanced up and watehd her on TV a little. But they asked me ?'s on a laptop about :how much time do you play with your child a week? how much $ do you make? how many people other than yourself care for OG? How many times a wk do you eat dinner together? How many nights a week does she have a consistent bedtime? etc etc etc...and then w/ each of those questions they would then ask "How important is this to your family dynamic" It was weird.

All in all we were there for 2 hrs and 20 mins or so. We got out about 7:20. And I was glad that I had been a bad Mom and stopped at Mc D's on the way!! or she would have been hungry. Glad except for the fact that while we were waiting in the parking lot to go in OG spilled her milk ALL OVER the front floor of my car! She sat it on the middle console between the front seats...it has a slight incline and down it slid. I saw it and couldn't stop it. MILK WAS EVERYWHERE!! And note to self...wipes do not absorb or clean up ANYTHING!!! Keep a towel in the car! So I have milk in my car...which will be rotten by this afternoon....good thing it is a cooler day today! ICK

Oh and by the way....she GOT THE VIOLIN LESSONS!!! I was SO scared drawing the lottery...I had to pull an envelope out of 20 and hope I got 1 of the 10 that had the lessons. And I got it!! Thanks goodness!!! And I tried to act like Oh cool no big deal...we would have been fine either way...but I TOTALLY wanted those lessons!! And OG would have been upset if she didn't get them b/c I had been talking them up...we THOUGHT she would do something music related last night but no. So she wasn't happy about that...but she is looking forward to lessons in the future!

Cheering Section

Me & my biggest fan after my RACE on Saturday!

Sushi anyone?

What?...No? You NO LIKE Sushi!? ;) Well, OG sure does. We went out Monday night for an impromtu dinner to a sushi restaurant. We did get OG a kids hibachi chicken plate with veggies & rice too....she ate it up with her kid chopsticks...and loved it. Hubbie & I got about 5 types of sushi on a huge platter...YUM. I LOVE sushi...it fills you up (sort of) but you don't feel all gorged and gross after you do when you eat a heavy/fried meal. We also had a coupon for a free Claifornia roll...pretty basic and if you ask me, boring. So we gave a few pieces of that to OG. She has had sushi before and she likes it...and she liked this sushi too. The "Shushi" as she called it was ""YUMMY". It does look like she is enjoying herself doesn't it??

like Daddy Bear, like Granddaughter

In response to the post below about OG's choir performance...my Daddy (OG's "Daddy Bear") sent me THIS picture of him...circa 1951! CUTE!!! Check out the hair and the little bow tie thingie.

Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultations...

OG had her 1st choir performance on Sunday AM and did AWESOME! I was so nervous I could hardly stand it. I was shaking as I took pics from the 2nd pew b/c I was so proud. She had lots of hand movements etc so I blame much of the blurryness of the pix on that....and some of it on my nervousness. lol

Included are pic from the last rehearsal that AM before the service and ones from the actual performance.

YEAH! So cute! She has on the creme dress in the rehearsal pix...and the big navy hair bow. ;) Of course!

I LOVE this one above...she looks like she is really "feelin' the spirit"! lol

UVA! Go Hoos Go!

This weekend OG went to her 1st ever UVA football game! We have never taken her before b/c 1) we thought it was too far away (3 hrs) and 2)too long of a day (12 hrs w/ travel, tailgate,game & travel). We also have always had other committments on game weekends, so it was Daddy who always went.

Well this weekend was a blast. We did decided to drive up to Charlottesville, VA on Fri night to save some time. We also had a FREE hotel room b/c of hubbie's hotel points b/c he travels so much for work! WOOO We stayed about 10 mins from the stadium so that was convenient.

OG talked about UVA the whole way up and wanted to know WHEN we would be at UVA. I don't think she really KNEW what UVA was...she knew there was a game etc but I don't think she knew what she was in for.

The funny thing about the hotel was this...Fl Grandparents, you will appreciate this....we walked into the hotel room, OG looked around, walked back to the counter where the sink and bathroom were, looked around there and asked "where are all of the other rooms??!!" We asked her what she meant...we told her THIS was our room. She then said "this is not a hotel room....there is only one room...where are the other bedrooms and the living room?". OOPS She is spoiled. When we go to Disney every year we stay in a Villa/Suite on the property, so it has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a full den...and at the beach we stay in a condo, 2 br's a kitchen, dining area and den area. THAT is normal to her. I think it is time to expose her more to how the REAL folk live when you don't get things for practically FREE. ha

So on Saturday we left our hotel room about 8:30 am, grabbed some breakfast at Mickey D's and headed to the tailgate spot. Now hubbie USUALLy does it up with the tailgate...tent, chairs, coolers, TV, music, tables...TONS of food galore. Not this time. Because the game was so early 12 noon, we needed to be at the tailgate by 9am. Then leave for the walk to the stadium by about 11 to get there early and get a spot (we wanted to sit in general seating b/c it is better than the season ticket seats we have) before the game started. So it was just breakfast on your own....and we even forgot chairs! Had no tents! No nothing! Everyone around us was decked out in style cooking breakfast on grills with tents, banners, chairs...the works! Oh well. ha We did call some friends the night before to tell them we forgot the chairs and for them to bring more...so their were extra chairs and that was good.

So we headed to the game...OG was excited...we took lots fo pix...and we WON! We beat ECU! WOOO! Go Hoos! It took a while for OG to get into the game, but eventually she was singing songs and doing cheers! She was even on the jumbo tron once!! So cool. She us already asking when we are going back!!

OG spelling ou the A in UVA...lol

CUTEST OUTFIT EVER!

...and do I have a pic? NO!!!!! UGH, I am horrible. I miss the old days (and I know you long time readers do too) of Diva Dress-Up when On Friday's I would post OG's cute outfits of the week. I used to be SOOO good at this blogging thing! Check the archives from maybe early 2006 through that fall of 06 to get your fix...so cute!

So OG is wearing such a cool outfit today. Although I don't think SHE loved it. She said she wanted a SOFT shirt to which I just said TOO BAD (bad Mommy). She has on a light pink striped Polo Ralph Lauren button down oxford shirt (thanks Nikki!) and some cute slim fit boot cut jeans (thanks Aunt Cindy!), brown shoes, straightened CHI'd hair (left over from yesterday's chi session with just a quick touch up this AM, and NO we didn't have a bath last night, ha)and a brown hairbow! SO CUTE!!! Funny thing is I remember my 1st day of 4th grade circa 1982. My mom MADE me wear almost the same exact shirt, a pink oxford button down (although I am SURE it was not a real Polo) and a navy straight slim skirt that hit me mid calf. I HATED that outfit. All my friends were wearing cool clothes on day 1 of school and I had to look like miss fancy pants. There is a photo of me outside our front door in that outfit that AM before the bus came... and I am looking at mom like "I am not thrilled about this but I will stand here for a picture if I must." Funny now that I look back and now OG expressed her same distaste for the oxford cloth shirt!

The outfit today looks SOMETHING like this...and this is NOT OG in this pic! lol

SHUT UP!!!!! HOW CUTE IS THAT!!??
So this morning I took her into school and the director said "wow, Olivia is so cute...she looks like she is dressed for picture day today(yesterday was picture day)" Back story...I went to High School with said director, from 1988-1991....so she was around in my preppie days ...wait, I am still preppie...ok, the OLD preppie days. So then director says "you know Jules, she is dressed just like YOU were in High School" to which I thought for a moment and TOTALLY agreed! She did look like I would have dressed back then. Except my jeans would have been pegged at the ankles and my shirt would have probably been loose and not tucked in. I guess I changed my opinion of the oxford cloth shirt from 4th grade to HS.

I am sure OG won't keep the shirt tucked in today...that can be kind of hard with pottying and all. But I will try to take a picture of her outfit tonight for your viewing pleasure. It is AWESOME! I get excited about the little things!!

Fair Expenses

So we went to the fair on Monday. It was lots of fun! OG rode big kid rides last year but this year was much better b/c she was bigger and could ride more and was not scared. We got 2 books of tickets in advance and saved about $7+ on each book. We had 48 tickets and most rides were 3 tickets so you do the math...she needed to ride LOTS of rides and she did. Mostly the kiddie rides. Although as a family we did ride the ferris wheel (fun)....and Daddy & OG rode the Tilt-a-Whirl (barf, I sat out on that one)...and they went through a little fun house thingie together a la the end of the movie Grease where Danny is chasing Sandy around in her tight black outfit. LOL

So how did our fair expenses break down for a family of 3? Glad you asked:
parking in some dudes yard directly across the street from the entrance = $5
2 adult admission tickets $7 each x 2 = $14
kids admission ticket = free
2 books of tickets (48 tickets total) $12 each x2 = $24
2 hot dog combo with fries & drink = $4.50
small corn dog = $3
london broil sandwich = $7
cotton candy = $4
small homemade lemonade = $3
funnel cake with chocolate and powdered sugar = $6
chicken on a stick = $6
gas to drive 20 miles to and from the fair = $50 gazillion dollars...just kidding

TOTAL: $71.50
Not bad!!

Going to the fair...

We are off to the fair tonight! Should be fun! Pig races, fried twinkies & elephant ears...OH MY!

I miss her already...

OG is heading out of town today...without me!!! :( I have the Women's Only 5K race tomorrow (see my other blog for my journey) so I couldn't leave today. And hubbie is staying to cheer me on (thanks hubbie) and we will head out Sat about 10:30am after the race festivities!

But it was sad to say good bye at school this AM...she didn't seemed to mind...she was fine that her MeeMa and Poppi were picking her up and taking her away without me. It kind of made me sad. :( I took all of her luggage to school with her and left it in the teachers lounge. And you would have thought she was going to be gone for a week. She has her pink and green monogrammed rolling luggage, a bag full of crayons/markers/books & art stuff, a bag of kid snacks and treats and another bag of something I can't remember. Girlfriend is READy to go!

I can't wait to see her when we arrive!!

And...Wish me luck in the race Sat!! ET, AK and I (along with many others) are ready to go!!!

potty mouth

This might be TMI but it is funny. OG was pottying the other night before bed. She decided that she also had to go poppy while she was there. Fine by me. AS I stood in the bathroom by the sink getting her toothbrush ready for brushing I noticed there was definitely some poopy going on. I commented to her that "weheew, that poopy smells bad" and "that is stinky poopy" and laughed. She said back to me "MOM, it is what it is"...and then "that's just what poopy is". That made me laugh out loud...to which she responded " you don't laugh at someone who poops". She didn't think it was funny...but I sure did.