Special moments

My grandpa passed away this pass weekend. He had terminal lung cancer. He came to live with my parents in April. My girls got to meet their great grandpa, a kind, gentle, loving man for the first time. Baby girl was smitten with him the first time she met him when he was concerned that she fell down, and he offered to kiss her boo-boo. Sweet girl loved the fact that he was so proud of her for dancing on stage in front the whole school, and for singing songs from the musical Annie on stage with a group of girls from her musical theater class. I love that even when he wasn't feeling well, he was still an amazing, loving, and wonderful man. I love that when he was in his last days, both of my girls wanted to let him know how much they loved him. Baby girl would walk into his room and whisper "sweet dreams" in her very sweet toddler voice as he slept. My sweet girl was very indignant when I told her that she didn't have to come and visit him with me because he was just going to sleep and he wasn't able to talk to her anymore because he was very sick. She said," Well, I want to tell him I love him, and tell him that I am glad that he got to come to Virginia to see us." When he passed, I tried very hard to explain death to my very bright almost 6 year old. I told her that he had gone to sleep and that his soul had gone to heaven to be with the people who loved him who had already died. I told her how they were waiting for him, and showed him all of the best places in heaven. She told me that my uncle was probably showing him the best place to fish, and that fish in Heaven could get caught and eaten, and then they would just reappear because it was heaven, and God would just want all creatures to be happy. It's amazing the insight that my girls have, but they do, and I have been feeling very blessed that they are my special girls who offer me special moments on a daily basis.

Creating lifelong Memories

I haven't posted in quite awhile...
Last week I had an unexpected winter vacation. And what an exciting, fun, and relaxing time I had with my girls, myself, and my mom and dad!
My husband was summoned to the icy, snowy roads late Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning and we did not see him until 5pm Wednesday evening. We woke up early to see the no school for sweet girl and myself, called the Nanny and gave her the day off, then went back to bed until 9:30-even baby girl was coaxed back to bed with a sippy cup of warm milk after her initial wake up time of 7:30. We stayed in our jammies until about noon, then we started the long process of getting ready to go out into the freezing snow/ice. Baby girl hates her snow clothes....with a passion. In went one leg, then as I was getting the other in, the first one came out. This went on for about 15 minutes, then finally Mommy conquered that cute, little, fiesty baby girl! YES! I won! She had snow clothes on and boots and was ready! Sweet girl was so excited to run and jump in that mess, she squealed with delight. Baby girl, another story... screamed and screamed, until finally my sweet girl distracted her and showed her how much fun she could have. They were having such a good time, that I decided to be purposeful and looked for a shovel. Ooops! My dear husband had taken all of them with him on his snow clearing journey for all of the paying business owners and homeowners in McLean and Arlington. So I went nextdoor to pay a visit to my Scottish neighbor so that I could borrow his shovel. And he, being the gentleman that he is, didn't want to loan it to me, he wanted to shovel my walk himself. After physical combat (I begged and pleaded, and started to pry his fingers off of the shovel), I got him to agree to let me shovel my walk. I know, I should have let him do it, but after all that lounging around, I really wanted to do it myself, so I could feel good! I can proudly, or stupidly say that I shoveled my walk, my other neighbors walk, and part of my driveway. Then my sweet girls were gettin' a bit cold and tired, so tired that baby girl fell asleep in my arms in her snowsuit.
The next day sweet girl got to sleep in and go to school 2 hours late, while I got the day off. My baby girl and I had some lunch, played, and then we went to pick up our nanny so that mommy could go and have some "me " time. I chose to get my hair cut and my normal hair stylist was not available. So I chose a new one at PR and Partners. I got the best hair cut, the best shampoo and conditioner, very nice caramel colored highlights, and this really cool anti frizz, smoothing serum(which makes a bad hair day hard to have) all for the unexpected and almost knocked me off my feet price of $275.00. WOW! After spending $275, you'd think I'd feel like a hot little momma, but aparently the Winter blues have taken hold of me and I needed something more to make me feel good. So, off I went to Nordstrom in search of a make up person to make me feel pretty. And low and behold, there was just that person standing behind the Laura Mercier counter just waiting for a person like me! When she was done with me, I felt great! I didn't know that they could do cool tricks with an eye liner brush and your top lid that would make my tired, mommy eyes look so pretty and vivacious! So needless to say, Nordstrom got another bit of my money, but after that I could have taken on the world because I was empowered with new found self confidence. I made it home just in time to pick up sweet girl from the car riders line (not something I get to do often, so that just added to the things that made my day). She's such a good girl, and noticed mommy' s new do, and complimented it nicely! That girl really knows how to make a mommy's day! When we arrived home, it was announced that I would have yet another day off of school! Whooppeee! I think I may have been more elated than some of my very own students about the lack of time we spent in class last week.
That evening my mother and I came up with a very fun and exciting plan for the next day. She and my dad met me at my house, the baby sitter came to hang with baby girl, and we dropped sweet girl off at school 2 hours delayed, and then we were off to spend the day in the snow at Liberty mountain. We skied for 3 hours, ate some lunch and then headed back home before it was dark (a request made by sweet girl when she reluctantly agreed that it would be nice for mommy and grammy to go and have some fun!). Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were spent in our Jammies till late in the morning, visiting with our boy cousins in Fairfax, ice skating across our back lawn, ice skating at the outdoor rink with snowflakes falling on our heads, and dining with Grammy and Grampy, and many hours of watching my two sweet girls use their amazing imaginations to create the most wonderful games and dialogue.
After this week concluded, I started thinking how nice it would be if every month had an assigned weeklong holiday! How fulfulling and enjoyable that would be! But for now, I guess I'll just enjoy it when it comes along, and look forward to our Spring Break when I will be guaranteed a weekwith my sweet girls!