Sunday brunch

I'm on a roll here, four posts within one week!

This morning we met up with Ilene, Michael & April for a sushi brunch at Maisie's favorite restaurant, Nori Nori and oh was it delicious. Eammon, Maisie and I have been there many, many times for both lunch and dinner but this was a first for Ilene and Michael. After hearing us rave about the food they agreed that the wonderful praises we've lavished on the place were all true as they enjoyed their meal as much as we enjoyed ours. While Eammon and I enjoyed a fabu selection of sushi, hot entrees, salads, fruit and desserts, Maisie stuck to her favorites udon noodles, dumplings and a little ice cream for dessert. Where we were seated we had a nice little private area behind the table where the girls were able to spread out, color and play and at the end of our 2 1/2 hours there, some snuggles and rough housing with Eammon.
We did have one little bit of naughtiness when Maisie decided to use the wall as her canvas but thankfully our waitress was very understanding and after a time out Maisie sincerely apologized. Other than that one instance both April and Maisie were well behaved, ate all their food and played amazingly well together allowing us adults to time to eat and talk. Good friends, food and well behaved little girls, a great way to spend a few hours on a rainy Sunday.
Speaking of Sunday, it's time for Three-Word-Sunday* again and I'm using two pictures to sum up our week.

Maisie absolutely loves school and all the plaid that makes up her uniforms and I personally think she looks stinkin' adorable in everything she wears but she's truly rocking the plaid.

We really have had a great week but Maisie is tough, opinionated, stubborn and a master at pushing my buttons and testing limits. No matter what though I just love my girl more than words could say...even when she's downright miserable & rotten, she's still my best girl.
* Sum up your week in three little words. You can sing it, you can say it, you can write it, you can draw it. It can be funny or sad or poignant as long as it’s honest. Check out Pug Mama's blog later in the week to see her video of all the participant's pictures.

Big sister gathering

Thankfully today was a gorgeous sunny and warm day so Maisie was able to attend her first big sister & brother event.

The big sister & brother program is a youth led group which connects children adopted from China with Chinese-American teens and today's event was a pool party.

There were so many little girls and numerous big sisters & brothers all having a great time together. Some of the big sisters were doing face painting and others were making balloon animals for the girls.

The girls all had fun playing in the pool, going down the water slide and during adult swim, congregating in the kiddie pool.

Maisie enjoyed meeting the little girls but especially loved meeting the big sisters. It was very sweet how the big sisters each took time with each of the girls and you could tell that everyone enjoyed the interaction.

After a couple of hours in the pool everyone returned to the clubhouse for snacks of homemade egg rolls, chips, cookies, cake, popsicles, brownies and much more.

Maisie had a blast and was totally worn out by the end of the day so-much-so that she was sound asleep within two minutes of getting in the car for the ride home.

Maisie can't wait to attend her next big sister & brother event next month.

Friday fun with friends

Today Maisie and I met up with Lisa & Briana and Angela, Laney, Halee & Hadyn at an inflatable jumping place and oh boy did we have fun. Maisie only recently overcame her fear of inflatable places because of the noise levels and today she did great. She was a little hesitant for our first half hour there but after that she was running around crazy jumping on every single inflatable in the place, calling for Briana to join with her and just having a blast. The place was pretty empty with all the children being four and under so no big kids getting in the way of the wee ones. The kids only slowed down twice, once was to eat a little lunch and the second time was to enjoy some marshmallow ice cream cones. Maisie and Briana each ran the other one tired and once home both girls crashed and napped well allowing their Mama's a little quiet time. Hopefully Maisie and I will have a free Friday again in the near future so that we can get together and play again.

Rocking the plaid

When I first realized that Maisie would have to wear a uniform to school I was quite bummed, especially as I have so many cute, adorable and fun clothes that fit her now and even more just waiting for her to grow into. Thankfully in addition to "official" school uniforms, her school also allows the children to wear any color plaid and I'm running with that one. I've never really been a plaid lover but I've come around some and have to say that each morning when Maisie gets dressed for school I just smile as I can't help thinking how stinkin' adorable she looks. Maisie on the other hand absolutely loves her uniforms and will ask to wear specific items each day. Her favorite though is the watermelon skirt which she wore the first day of school as she loves that it matches her friend Katie's.

I really haven't had anything oh-too-new or exciting to blog about this week. Maisie has had her usual busy schedule, she's loving and doing real well at school, really enjoys her ballet & tap class, totally loves her gymnastics practices and daily complains that she misses gymnastics camp and wants to return with her friends K & A joining her. Eammon continues to have crazy late work hours so we see little of him but hopefully the crazy hours will end sometime soon. Honestly though I have nothing to complain about so overall I'd have to say it's been a great week. We have a few plans for the weekend which should be fun but Saturdays will only happen if the weather cooperates and is nice so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a beautiful and dry day.

Since there's nothing overly exciting happening to blog about, this will be a short post with lots of Maisie rocking the plaid pictures, enjoy!

Little Miss Attitude!

I can't believe that it's Three Word Sunday* already, our week and weekend seemed to fly by. Maisie is loving school and each day she looks stinkin' cute in her uniform having this whole I'm a big girl attitude going on. All the children are supposed to wear either school uniform clothes being navy or khaki pants/shorts/skirts with monogrammed polo shirts in either white, grey, light pink or blue or they're allowed to wear any color plaid. I tried to find some uniform clothes for Maisie but most places start at size 4, Land's End starts at size two but they're as big as a 4 and since Maisie still only wears a size 2 this year is going to be all about plaid. She loves all her new outfits though and has fun deciding each morning what to wear.

We had fun with all our other activities this past week too. Maisie's loved returning to ballet & tap, as always had fun at her gymnastics practices and on Friday she started swim lessons with Miss Rosemary. Back in April/May Maisie took group swim lessons which were really a waste, four little children who couldn't swim, half hour in the pool, lots of crying and just not a lot of learning or practice time. Now she's doing private lessons and she honestly learned more and progressed farther in her first lesson than she did in the six weeks she was in the group class. Maisie really enjoyed the lesson and her instructor.
Friday afternoon Eammon returned home from work while it was still light outside (a rare event these days) and as it was a nice afternoon and Maisie, K & A were all outside, he decided to set out the sprinkler in the driveway so the kids could play a bit. We unfortunately have so many geese & ducks that frequent our yard, the lawn is often a mine field of poo so the only clean place for the sprinkler is the deck or driveway. The kids didn't mind where they played as they all had a great time. I laughed so hard watching them, especially K thinking that she wasn't wet enough so she filled buckets and bowls to dump extra water on herself and then Maisie wanting to keep a bucket or two on her head thinking that was going to keep her dry, silly little girls!

Saturday was a gorgeous day so Eammon set the pool up on the deck and K, A & Maisie had a blast splashing around together all afternoon. Today it was sunny, hot and almost no humidity so Maisie and Eammon played in the pool together almost all day while I went out and did a little shopping. My reason for going out was to buy some clothes for myself but instead I found some great buys for Eammon. One pair of Nautica swim trunks, one Nautica "Hawaiian" shirt, three pairs of Izod chino shorts and two pairs of Chaps plaid cargo shorts all for the grand sum of....$65. Gotta love those end of season sales!

After relaxing a bit and watching Maisie swim in the pool I did something that I haven't done in about two years, I made burgers and dogs on the grill. I've been craving for a burger for a while and though burgers never taste as good as when my father makes them, it was still delicious and hit the spot. Also nice was that the three of us were able to enjoy eating dinner together (also a rare event lately in this house) out on the patio.

My computer is still having major issues but we're trying to hold off on buying a new one for a few months. It drives me crazy that the computer gets to the point where it's unusable and Eammon has to run hours of fixes on it so that it will work for a bit longer and I seem to go a couple of days each week without a computer which is a real pain in the tush. I have my iPhone so I can do some stuff but I can't really do my blog posts from my phone but hey, it's better than no Internet access at all. Also, what's the deal with bloglines and is any one else having the same problem? Many blogs are not showing new posts at all and for the ones that do show up, it's often taking days to show, what's the deal??

Guess that about sums up our week and weekend and now it's time to get bentos for tomorrow made and ready for another busy and hopefully fun week. Wishing everyone a wonderful week.
* Sum up your week in three little words. You can sing it, you can say it, you can write it, you can draw it. It can be funny or sad or poignant as long as it’s honest. Check out Pug Mama's blog later in the week to see her video of all the participant's pictures.

Super fabulous days

I've received numerous emails and calls asking about how things are going with Maisie and school. So far its been great and for each of the past three days when I've picked Maisie up she's been over the top excited about her day, extremely animated and like a teenager talking a mile a minute telling me everything that she did, what happened and telling me that school was fabulous and she had a great time and can't wait to go back. The first day I was so happy for her that she had such a great day, I cried.

Monday afternoon Maisie returned to her tap & ballet class and had a blast with all the other little girls. Tuesday afternoon was gymnastics and today Maisie actually took a nap for an hour, woohoo!! We are back in the zone after our two weeks of together time play and we're loving it!

Thank you to everyone for all the good wishes for Maisie's school year and the concerns too. It is true that Maisie is quite young to be in kindergarten but our decision to have her start early wasn't taken lightly, made on a whim or without a lot of evaluation, testing, deliberation, thought and discussion. In some states she'd be eligible to enter kindergarten next year but in Georgia children must be five by Sept 1 to enter kindergarten in the public school system so with her October birthday, Maisie couldn't start until the 2011/12 school year. Maisie was accepted to start kindergarten at a few local private schools and we think that the school we chose will be the best fit for her as it's a small school with very small classes and in the past has had students start at Maisie's age and they've thrived and excelled. Three days in and Maisie's loving it, she's engaged, stimulated and extremely happy. We think and hope that this will be the right environment for her and will of course monitor not only her academic progress but her social, emotional and personal progress and well being.

First day of Kindergarten

Today I took my sweet little girl to her first day of Kindergarten, OMG!!! Maisie has been so excited and this morning was no exception. She couldn't wait to see her teacher Miss Nancy, her classmates and she was also looking forward to seeing her gymnastics friend Kaity. Kaity is in first grade but Kindergarten, first & second graders have a combined gym class which meets first thing Monday & Wednesday mornings and Maisie is looking forward to it so that she can be with Kaity and Kaity's Mom Joyce, who's the phys. ed. instructor.

When I dropped Maisie off this morning I carried in all the required school supplies and Maisie found the desk with her name on it and sat down ready to start her day. I asked her for a snug & a hug and she jumped into my arms, gave me a big hug & kiss, told me that Mummy always comes back and then basically pushed me away. I put her down and she sat right down at her desk waiting for Miss Nancy to give her some paper & crayons. With a few tears in my eyes I left my little girl at big girl school!!

Maisie looked so tiny compared to all the "big" kids in her class. A few of the children are just on the brink of turning five, most are already five and there's at least one girl who will turn six before Maisie even turns four in October. Maisie does so well with older children and I know that she's going to thrive this year.

I've added Maisie's pictures from her first days at Wee School back in 2008 & 2007. I can't get over how much my little baby has grown, look how tall she's become!! I'm so excited for Maisie and just can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and hear all about her first day.

Here's Maisie with her friend Kaity, ready to start their first day of school!

Maisie one year ago on her first day of Wee School.

Maisie two years ago on her first day of Wee School.

Leapster Loving Lass

It's three word Sunday again!*

Maisie has now had her Leapster for 19 nights. Overall my plan to use it as incentive to have her sleep in her own bed, all night long so that next day she gets to play with it seems to be working. Since she got the Leapster, all but the second night and two nights this past week when she's awoken with nightmares, she's slept all night in her own bed, woohoo!! After we do her nighttime routine and say our goodnight we allow her to play her games in bed for a while and she's been good when we tell her that it's time to turn it off and go to sleep. In addition the game that she has helps her with her writing and math skills and she doesn't even realize that it's educational. Overall the Leapster is a hit in our house.

* Sum up your week in three little words. You can sing it, you can say it, you can write it, you can draw it. It can be funny or sad or poignant as long as it’s honest. Check out Pug Mama's blog later in the week to see her video of all the participant's pictures.

Social Saturday

Maisie's social calendar was full today and she had a great day. This morning Maisie and Eammon attended Claire's 3rd birthday party which was held at PLAY and from what they both told me, she had a great time. Give Maisie a trampoline, foam pit, friends and cake and what's not to love. She hasn't been to PLAY since May so she had great fun being back there again. While Maisie and Eammon played and partied I got to straighten up the house, go to the grocery, prepare some food for dinner, run and empty the dishwasher and get the laundry for the week finished, the party would have been a lot more fun but I just wasn't prepared for our guests who were coming for dinner.

After the party Eammon was quite tired from all the jumping and playing but little energizer Maisie was still going strong. After quite a struggle she did finally nap but it was brief especially compared to Eammon's. After nap our dinner guests Ilene, Michael & April arrived and would you believe that Maisie and April were wearing identical outfits! Maisie and April looked so cute together and immediately started playing with the hula hoops, on the trampoline, balance beam and bar. Next thing we knew they had gone off together to Maisie's bedroom where they were reading books, giggling and having a great time. For me it was like a glimpse into the future when she's a teen, hanging in her room with friends.

Next stop for the girls was the pool where Eammon and Michael sat outside watching and playing with them while Ilene and I enjoyed staying in the air conditioning as I got dinner assembled. Grilled pizza, broccoli salad and watermelon & honeydew salad comprised our menu and everyone enjoyed. Ilene and Michael brought dessert of cherries and and ice cream cake and though I'm the only cherry eater in this house, the ice cream cake was a huge hit with everyone.

After dinner we all played a little Wii and before we knew it, it was after 8:30 so our evening had to come to an end. Ilene and I changed the girls into their pajamas and then it was hugs and silliness before April and family headed home. A very fun afternoon and evening with friends which will hopefully be repeated again soon.

Bathing beauties

Life with Maisie since my last post has been basically good but very trying. All of a sudden Maisie's total attitude, drama, naughtiness, demanding, pushing limits and boundaries and out to drive both Eammon and I crazy. Her sleep has been poor, waking up multiple
times during the night screaming and then she's unable to fall back to sleep quickly and totally not wanting to be alone in her own bed. For about the past two weeks she had been doing well sleeping in her own bed but two out of the past three nights she's ended up sleeping with me so needless to say, we're both exhausted. Thankfully it hasn't all been naughtiness and drama and we've had some good fun too.

Thursday was a very exciting day for Maisie as we went to her new school's open house where she met her teacher Miss. Nancy as well as her classmates. Her class will have eight students, six girls and two boys and one of the little girls whom she took to immediately was also adopted from China. During the orientation Maisie also saw Kaity whom she knows from gymnastics and is very excited that she'll have phys.ed with Kaity and that Kaity's Mom Joyce (whom she also knows) will be her instructor. Having someone there that she knew made the experience so much easier and Maisie's excited to start on Monday. Thursday afternoon was of course gymnastics practice again and no matter how good or bad Maisie's day is going, when she's at the gym she's focused, happy and just always has a great time. I'm excited as Maisie and her teammates were all measured for their team leotard. Last years leo was so adorable, I can't wait to see what they'll be wearing this year.

Today Lisa & Briana came over for a fun little play date. The girls played inside with all the toys for a while but the siren call of the pool soon had us all outside. Even though we have a nice big pool in our subdivision it's so easy with the little ones to just have the blow-up pool on the deck so that Lisa and I could sit comfortably and chat while the girls played. The girls had fun in the play house, the pool, playing with the hose and on the spinning rocket. Originally when we planned the play date I had mentioned that I'd have a pizza delivered for lunch but instead I decided to make some grilled pizzas and Lisa & Bri both seemed to enjoy them. Maisie's playtime ended abruptly when she became very naughty and wouldn't listen so she was put to bed for an early nap and she did end up sleeping well. Bri was so good and happy playing with Maisie's toys which she said "were cool" that even while Maisie napped, Lisa and Bri stayed and it was nice being able to visit for a while longer.

We have a busy Saturday but a quiet Sunday and then Monday is the first day of school and ballet & tap class resumes!! Overall it's been a very fun two weeks of Mummy & Maisie time and I will miss being able to spend so much time together with such a relaxed schedule but I think we both thrive when our schedule and days are full. Makes it so special when we do get extended down time together and allows us to appreciate our time together that much more.

You knew that daily blog posting couldn't last

I know that there are a few people who would love daily Maisie posts but those people know me all too well and know that I'd never be able to keep up posting at that pace but hey, eight days in a row of posting, not too shabby!

We really enjoyed our weekend, party on Saturday and a fun play day on Sunday. Neighbors K & A had been away for a week and it seems that they had major Maisie withdrawal and trust me Maisie missed them something fierce. K & A arrived home Saturday night after Maisie was already in bed but as soon as they were up Sunday morning they were knocking at the door, giving hugs to one another and ready to play. Maisie was so excited to see her friends again. K, A & Maisie played in the back yard & pool until it was nap time for Miss M (a.k.a. cranky pants that morning) and trust me, she needed that nap.

After nap time Maisie raced over to K & A's house to play some more. Eammon was heading out to see a movie with some friends so I invited K, A & parents over for a dinner of grilled pizzas. Figured that since I had picked so many figs off their tree while they were away, I should at least make some of the roasted garlic onion jam, fig & goat cheese pizzas for them. I made the pizzas and we all brought other items to the mix and had a great dinner and a nice evening.

Monday was a slow day for Maisie and I. Puzzles & books, tea parties and playing with the Wii, cleaning out a couple of kitchen cabinets and just a few afternoon errands, just a nice Mummy & Maisie day.

This morning we headed down to Ikea as I was looking for a shelving unit to hold all the television equipment, DVD's, the Wii and its games. I found and bought a unit that I think will work but we'll see how long it takes until I get it put together. While at the store Maisie said she was hungry so I was a big spender and bought her the $1.99 full breakfast which she really enjoyed and surprisingly finished almost all of it. Maisie was desperate to sleep on the drive home but I wanted her to stay awake hoping that she would nap once home. I was able to keep her awake in the car but the girl would not sleep once home...OY! After the no-nap time we headed out to gymnastics where she had a great practice. I'm really enjoying spending full and almost full days with Maisie and next week when her schedule gets crazy busy again I'm going to miss my girl.

It's three word Sunday* with Maisie

I'm so proud of Maisie for overcoming her fear of inflatables. On every other occasion that we've been near them she has either seized up in terror as soon as the door to the facility was opened and she heard the noise or, if I did get her inside she would cling to me and melt down if I dared to go near or take her anywhere close to an inflatable. I love that she's not only no longer afraid of the inflatables but that she had a great time playing on them and will do it again.

Maisie and I have one more week off together before life gets crazy busy again. Her new schedule will have her at school Monday - Thursday, Monday afternoon will be ballet & tap class, Tuesday & Thursday afternoon will include gymnastics practice and Friday will be her swimming lesson. Maisie would love to take violin lessons and Eammon would love for her to take a martial arts class but her schedule is full and maybe down the road she'll have the opportunity to do one or both of those activities. Right now though, I'm looking forward to this coming week and our time together.

* Sum up your week in three little words. You can sing it, you can say it, you can write it, you can draw it. It can be funny or sad or poignant as long as it’s honest. Check out Pug Mama's blog later in the week to see her video of all the participant's pictures.

Maisie's Saturday

This morning was all about celebrating Briana's 3rd birthday. Since we were heading to an inflatable jumping place I asked Maisie to get a pair of pink Hello Kitty socks from her drawer but instead she decided to go for a layered pink and purple look and thought she looked fabu so we went with her selection.

Maisie, who's always been petrified of inflatables because of the noise, conquered her fears today and had a great time at Bri's party. In the end she was up, down and all over just having a blast. All the children (and I use the term loosely, just check out the "big kid" piccies toward the end of this post) had lots of fun with Briana having the best time of all, the girl never stopped and the smile on her face was ear to ear.
It was fun to meet a new family, Liene, Emilija & Lane as well as see so many old friends.
Randi with her new daughter Emma.
John & Katie.
Matt & Chani.
Emily Grace, Briana, Laney & friends playing ring-a-rosie.
Trixie & Danielle.
WaWa & Andrew.
Katie on the slide.
Maisie on the slide...finally enjoying inflatables, woohoo!!
Birthday girl Bri celebrates with cake & friends.
Then the "big kids" tried to do what the little ones found so easy.

Doug giving Eammon a "little" help up the ladder.
Once Eammon made the big climb, he and John helped Doug to the top.

Thanks for a great time and Happy 3rd Birthday Bri!!
After the party we stopped for a quick lunch of sushi and then once home we tried to have Maisie take a nap but she wasn't having any part of it.

The afternoon was spent in the back yard pool where Maisie had a blast. I picked more figs from our neighbor's tree and tonight I'm making grilled pizza again for dinner as it's a favorite with all of us and so easy to make. We're in for a quiet evening, maybe a family night of Wii.

Ta till tomorrow when it's three-word-Sunday!