I know

I know. I know! It's Jill's DAILY note. Not Jill's once in a blue moon note.

But I'm just so. very. tired.

And things have been feeling a little.... stressy lately. Spell check doesn't approve of the word stressy, but it is that feeling in your gut that tells you that either one big thing, or many little things are not quite right. Or maybe something terrible is looming. Regardless, it means that all I can do when not working or parenting is binge watch episodes of The Good Wife on Hulu and make (and eat) weird desserts using things like chocolate chips and scoops of peanut butter in the microwave. Thankfully, I have a girls night tomorrow because the pain in my jaw is telling me that I need some friend time. And probably also some wine. Plus, Heidi is making rice krispie treats using Cocoa Krispies, so there's that.

Also in my defense is the fact that the weather is cold and wet and my life is suddenly much less photogenic, so I have zero cute photos of my child to share with you. Well, that's not entirely true. Because Edie and I spent Saturday night at Birch Bay with my Mom, sister in law Emily and niece Caroline. It was a "girls only" sleepover and it was very important to Edie that she understand the rules of this event. Could she bring a boy stuffed animal? She needed to know. Anyways, I have some cute photos of Edie with her cousin that I'll try to get posted this week.

But for now, I really have to finish a work proposal and then there are like 10 episodes left of The Good Wife before I'm caught up to season 5.

My little belly dancer

Sporting the new outfit my parents brought home from Turkey:

Train ride

We spent the afternoon in Snoqualmie yesterday, riding trains,  visiting waterfalls, and eating indian food:

We asked Edie to smile for the photo and she acted bratty:

Then we made her laugh and she tried not to smile in order to prove she could sustain her bratty mood:

She cheered up on the train and we had a nice ride

Shortly after this photo, Edie decided she was bored, thirsty, bossy, and incapable of following directions all at the same time. We stopped for some Indian food on the way home where a mango lassi and butter chicken with naan solved some of these problems, but not all of them. Still, the train ride was super fun and a nice, low key activity for a weekend. Also? I think I might need to rewatch Twin Peaks this Fall. Anyone interested in joining me? 

Mimi Gets a Backrub

4 Year Post

I posted Edie's 4 year old note today, but backdated it to her birthday. You can see it by clicking here.

Birch Bay x 2

We spent 2 different weekends at Birch Bay last month. I'm a bit behind with posts, so you'll have to do with a "photo dump" mash up of all the photos. Sorry they're all so enormous, I don't have the energy to shrink each one down individually...

Hard to tell, but Edie made friends and spent a good chunk of time out on the sand bar without me, making mud pies:

Edaleen's Dairy where we ALL had ice cream for under $3! Birthday cake flavored ice cream and weird hair for Edie:

Dinner:

The lowest tide of all time:

We walked what must have been 3/4 of a mile to get to the water.

Breakfast in Lynden the next day with my grandmother, who Edie calls GGB. Dipping her bacon in butter. As you do.

Edie in her Sleeping Beauty dress (that's a bit low cut) with GGB:

That night we were visited at the cottage by this tiny dog on the loose. We decided he looked like Skippy from the books Skippy John Jones and called him Skippy all night. Edie asked if he could sleep with us and I'm not going to lie, I kind of wanted to let him. I'll trade you 2 crazy kitties for one Skippy.

Family selfie!

Sunset, pre-bedtime walk down to the beach. That's me and Edie on the far left:

Hovander Park:

She was determined to find a four leaf clover:

She was posing with the "puddle ducks" (from the Beatrix Potter books) and then when they honked, she went running:

Bellingham Farmer's market (once again, in her Aurora dress):

School

For those of you who've inquired about Edie's first week of school, I can sum it up pretty quickly: She loved it.

Her new school day starts at 9am (although you can drop off as early as 7am). The Culvers are not morning folk, and we are both self-employed - so Jeff typically drops Edie around 8:45am. From 9am until 12pm, her group of 7 kids rotates classrooms every 45 minutes and she has science, music and movement, basic skills (reading/writing/etc), and then PE - each with its own teacher. Oh, and somehow they cram 15 minutes of French in each day with the cutest French teacher ever, who is actually from France and wears stylish European clothes. I know, it's a bit bougie, but apparently the school has taught French since it opened in the 50's and they keep it in the program to honor their first owner, who I think is the grandmother of the current owner, but I might be making that part up... plus, how ridiculous and adorable would it be if Edie actually spoke French? For now I think she's mostly getting amped about the Eiffel Tower stamp the teacher put on her arm, but whatevs. On Tuesdays, her group will have what they call "Lodge Day", which is a day spent in their annex building, where they will do art and baking all day. They even have a kiln and make pottery! I sort of wish I could do preschool.

At noon they have lunch and then in the afternoon they have a variety of activities available to them, there is story time, afternoon snack, and outside play. We can pick up as late as 6pm, but any time after lunch is fine too. I decided to pick Edie up right after lunch on Tuesday, just in case she was having a hard time with the transition. Well, she was happy to see me, but she wasn't particularly interested in leaving school. I asked her if she liked her first day and she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I LOOVED it!" Being an idiot, I picked her up at 3:30 yesterday, racing to the school straight from a meeting and promptly felt like a bozo because she practically refused to leave and made me sit with her at the picnic table outside and watch her play with dinosaurs for like 30 minutes before she allowed me to take her home. Today, she stayed all day and insisted on playing "school" all evening.

I feel thrilled and like it's too good to be true. I love her new school, but I think I'm experiencing more growing pains than Edie. I'm used to the small school Jen runs where at pick up each day I can get a mini report on how the day went. I'm used to knowing all the other kids and them greeting Edie by name each morning. This is a big school with over 50 kids from 3-5yrs old, so there are more teachers, lots of assistants and the school itself is obviously much bigger. It's very homey and everyone is super friendly, it reminds me of my kindergarten classroom at Parkview Elementary actually, but it doesn't feel familiar yet.

For now, I'm reliant on Edie's reports from her day, which include such conflicting factoids as, "I didn't talk to anyone at lunch." and "At lunch, Olympia and I both had Gogurts in our lunch box!" Or, "I didn't have Science class today." and "Today we did a science experiment with sponges and eye droppers!" I will say though that the (so far) ease with which she's made this transition makes me think that Kindergarten next year is a possibility. Time will tell!

Birthday

Edie's birthday was Friday last week and it's been so busy, I haven't had the appropriate time to post her 4 year note or the photos from her big day.

I was intentionally low key about Edie's birthday this year - at least in regard to big parties.  I have a weird thing about not liking hired help/entertainment at children's birthday parties. It always feels awkward for the adults, like we all know you're acting like a big idiot and we understand and appreciate that it's highly entertaining for the children, but it has the effect of making me feel uncomfortable. I get the same feeling when watching reality tv dating shows. Or magic shows. Or bad improv. Basically, a little squirmy and perhaps a tad nervous that I'm going to be dragged into the "show" unwillingly. I fear we are nearing the age where The Bubble Man, or a balloon person, or an imitation princess slash ballerina is required and I decided I could put it off for just one more year without Edie noticing. We brought cupcakes and games for her to share with her daycare friends the before and that felt like a big celebration to her. We'll make 5 a big birthday, but 4 was more intimate. Intimate but FANCY. Edie told me she wanted to have a tea party for her birthday, so plans were made...

The day dawned sunny and beautiful. I'd picked out a new dress for Edie at a local consignment shop the week before and presented it to her in the morning. We marched down the street to Penny's house and helped the girls get ready for a fancy tea party. We'd made arrangements earlier in the week for the 4 of us to have tea at the Queen Mary Tea House (website here: http://www.queenmarytea.com). We had early lunch reservations and the girls primped by getting french braids, head bands, painted nails and lip gloss. Here they are watching My Little Pony while we braided their hair:

On Penny's front steps:

Outside the tea shop:

I love the next three shots of Edie sipping her giant water:

The place was PACKED, so I'm glad we had reservations. They had the bench all ready for the girls with stuffed Corgies waiting to keep them company (and no doubt tempt us to buy them):

Her apple juice tea that came in a fancy pot:

They have a "children's tea" package especially for kids that includes tiaras, apple juice or cocoa "tea", and the fanciest little tea spread ever.

First course was a trio of sorbets served with a little butter cookie:

Then each girl got a presentation like this:

Tiny fruits, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off, fudge cake with purple cotton candy on top and chocolate sauce for dipping. RIDICULOUS. And adorable.

Of course they went straight for the cake and cotton candy:

Then we presented them with matching unicorn necklaces that Edie had picked out to give Penny (and herself, of course).

Obligatory mother daughter shot (definitely the best of 3 tries, albiet mediocre):

Not too bad of the 4 of us:

Edie crashed super hard after tea. This is her, about 1 minute after saying she wasn't tired:

Later that afternoon, Heidi and Paul came by and presented her with this hand made fairy costume:

She obviously hated it. She refused to take it off for dinner. Which was a decidedly unfancy affair involving a quick drive to Spud for fish and chips (in fairy princess attire. as you do.). We all share a deep love for fried fish:

The old man who runs Spud had a soft spot for Edie and offered her a free tiny sundae:

Then we went home and she opened presents from us and my parents, who are on a long trip and left their presents behind:

Jeff got the sweetest video of her opening her presents and being so excited and thankful. I think it's too long to post here, but she was thrilled.

Her tea set from mom and dad (and weird sideways smile)

That night we packed up and headed to Birch Bay for the long weekend. Edie insisted on wearing her new Sleeping Beauty dress to drive north AND sleep in.  We got there late, put a sleeping Edie right to bed and woke up to sunshine.