Cotillion

It's finally here: the day I've been looking forward to (and that Little Man and Sweet Pea have been dreading). Cotillion has started!

CC loved cotillion when she did it in 6th and 7th grades. It's right up her alley: etiquette and poise and dressing up in fancy clothes. But it's Sweet Pea and Little Man's idea of torture. They can't stand wearing nice clothes, and in fact neither of them owned even one piece of the required ensembled: ballet flats and a dress for the girls, and a blazer, tie, dress shirt, nice pants, belt, and dress shoes for the boys. But I happily purchased it all.

Never before have two children needed cotillion more than these. Little Man complains if he has to put anything other than Crocs on his feet, and he won't even wear long pants, never mind a belt. Sweet Pea eats like a wild animal, spilling drinks regularly and managing to smear food on her forehead. 

Here's hoping a magical transformation is in the works. That would be a true Morrison Miracle!

Greg Olsen!

Guess who Linda and I ran into while we were out to lunch last week? Greg Olsen!! He is huge in real life.

"Well, yeah," said MJ. "He was an NFL tight end."

"I know," I agreed, "but I don't usually sit next to them in restaurant booths!"

The kids were duly impressed. Little Man said, "You look like a mouse next to him!" And Sweet Pea said, "Miss Linda looks really excited."

It's true. We were fan-girling pretty hard.

CC's Cotillion Dance

CC is done with her cotillion classes for the year. The session ended with a huge dance that included about 150 other 6th graders from schools all around our area. She was very excited, and took great care in preparing her outfit for the evening, even asking me to curl her hair. And best of all, she wanted me to chaperone! That way she could demonstrate all the dances she learned, and I could take video and pictures for her.

All the kids were assigned a dance partner for the first dance, and a marked location on the dance floor. And for every subsequent song, the girls rotated over to a new partner and they did a different style of dance. So CC got to shag, slow dance, swing, and waltz with four different boys, plus many others during the "circle mixer," which was her favorite. They also did line dances and (of course) "Y.M.C.A."

She thought the first two boys were really friendly, but was extremely unhappy with the tall boy in the gray suit, who refused to move much at all. But a few dances later, she and a different boy won the waltz competition, because they were able to keep a tennis ball between their foreheads the longest!

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/ljOLwpWnErg

CC is already looking forward to next year's classes. This is definitely right up her alley. Sweet Pea and Little Man, on the other hand, are already dreading it!

Cotillion

CC is halfway through her cotillion program for the year, and so far she's having a blast. She can't wait to tell me what they learned each week. But this week was a different type of class -- they met at a swanky country club for a formal dinner class. And CC had a beautiful new dress to wear for the occasion.

They learned how to set a table properly, which knives and spoons and forks to use for which courses, how to sit and lean and use the silverware properly, etc. They had tomato soup, grilled chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, and ice cream with a cookie for dessert. She liked it all except for the tomato soup and the mashed potatoes, although she took the requisite three bites of each.

Now it's back to dancing and manners until her final cotillion event in March!

Puppy Fever

omigosh omigosh omigosh ... Mia and her family got a new puppy and we are obsessed! His name is Herbie and he almost looks like he could be a ridgeless Ridgeback puppy. So adorable!

We puppysat him on the very first night they got him, while their family attended a show. He and Amber sniffed noses, then ignored each other the rest of the evening ... while MJ and I got all the cuddles we wanted.

The very best part of having a friend with a new puppy is getting all the puppy time you want, but not having to have a puppy of your own! Perfection!

New Ride!

The Silver Bullet (aka my old Volvo wagon) was starting to show her age, and considering how hard it's becoming to get new cars, I knew I better get going to find a new one.

It was a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the Silver Bullet. She's been a good car, never gave me any serious problems, carefully brought all three babies home from the hospital, and transported us safely on countless vacations, errands, and trips to school. She'll always have a soft spot in my heart.

Introducing ... Big Blue! She's a Toyota Highlander. Isn't she pretty?

I've moved into the world of SUVs, and the kids are really excited to have a 3rd row in the back. Now we can carpool with other people and bring friends on outings with us. "This will be so much better for long trips!" exclaimed CC.

I didn't tell the kids I was getting a car, but showed up to carpool after school one day to pick them up. They couldn't believe it! Little Man kept repeating, "It's so nice!"

And of course, I'm not going to leave my shiny new toy out on the driveway. So I finally had the motivation to clean out the garage. Now both our cars sleep nice and snug, like they should.

Big Blue will hopefully be just as solid a vehicle as the Silver Bullet was. We have years to enjoy her on vacations and around town. Heck, she will presumably be the one to take all 3 of our kids to college. Crazy thought!

Patrick's Promotion

Patrick, my silly, mischievous little brother, is a lieutenant colonel in the Army now! I can hardly believe it, and I'm so proud of him I could just burst. 

Now there are two lieutenant colonels in the family!

We all gathered for the promotion and a party over the weekend. It was a family affair in every way: Karen planned the whole thing; my dad and Karen pinned his bars on; Bryson and Braxton switched out his epaulets; Jon read the orders; my mom made the cake, and I photographed everything.

The reception was great -- Karen did an awesome job. They both gave very nice speeches, thanking everyone who's supported them and helped them during Patrick's career and all his deployments. A ton of family and friends showed up, including some of Patrick's team members from years ago who came from far and wide to be there.

Congrats to Patrick! I'm so proud of his dedication and service to his country.

Adventure Awaits!

Look what came this week? I know these will only get one stamp on our upcoming cruise, but it seems very exciting that all five of us have passports now! The opportunities are endless ...

And their photos aren't the most amazing. They're little kid mug shots. Hey -- there are very strict rules about passport photos, and it's hard to get a picture of my kids when they aren't smiling!

Anniversary #13

Lucky number thirteen for me and MJ! It's been thirteen years, four moves, three children, and countless hugs, kisses, and I love yous. I hope we have many, many more. Here's to us, babe!

Eclipse Day

Today was the day the kids have been talking about and looking forward to for weeks. We've been discussing eclipses, what they are, why they're rare, and what to expect. Over the weekend, my mom and I made "kid-proof" eclipse masks out of certified glasses, paper plates, scotch tape and elastic cords. I didn't want to take any chances with their eyes, but I wanted them to experience the eclipse in person. It's an exciting, amazing, rare phenomenon!

It was fun that my mom was here to experience it, too. MJ came home from work to see it with us. And we received frequent texts from my dad (on Priest Mountain in Virginia today), telling us what he was seeing. The kids were surprisingly good about keeping their masks on properly, but with my mom's help, we had one-to-one supervision of each child, just in case. We went in and out of the house multiple times to see the different phases of the eclipse. "It looks like a nilla wafer with a bite out of it!" "Now it looks like a crescent moon!"

Although we were not in the Path of Totality, there was a noticeable dimness during the peak of the eclipse. Inside the house, it was similarly dark to when dark storm clouds roll over the sun -- although the sun was shining brightly outside. Crickets chirped noisily, like they do at dusk. And the shadows on the ground had crescent-shaped light patterns around them, which was really interesting and unexpected.

As the final minutes of the eclipse ticked by, CC, Memere and I watched from the back yard. Just as the moon finally passed from the sun, clouds obscured the sun completely. What perfectly amazing timing! There weren't any clouds during the entire three-hour eclipse, and just as it ended, cloud cover moved in. Thank goodness we were able to see and enjoy the eclipse without an obscured view!

Tracking the Grandparents

With Grandma and Grandpa still on their world cruise, and Pepere on the Appalachian Trail, we are going dizzy keeping track of the grandparents! Fortunately we have two maps to keep everything straight. 

Grandma and Grandpa are on the home stretch, with less than a month left before they return home. They have made their way through Hawaii to California, and are cruising down the western Mexican coast now.

Pepere, meanwhile, is five days into his five-month hike, which he started at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (the blue star). I've told the kids that because walking is much slower than cruising, we will only be able to mark his progress once each week!

Bon Voyage

Last month, Grandma and Grandpa departed on a 95-day world cruise. What an amazing experience they'll have! Grandma sent us a large world map so we can follow their journey, and we've put it up on the wall right next to our kitchen table. 

We love following their progress on our map! If you look closely next to Little Man's head, you can see the dotted line I've been drawing as they travel.

So far they've stopped in Barbados, cruised down the Amazon River to Manaus and back (Grandma says theirs is the largest ship to cruise so far down the Amazon!), then visited Rio, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. They're currently making their way down to the tip of South America, where they'll go through the Strait of Magellan.

Date Night

Last night, CC had a very special treat: she stayed up late and came with me to Emily's dance recital (Emily is the daughter of our much-loved babysitter, Miss Julie). Julie and Emily came to CC's recital a few weeks ago, and I knew CC would love to see Emily and the other "big girls" dance.

I told CC that we were going somewhere special after dinner, just the two of us, but I didn't tell her where. When we were on our way and I told her our destination, she squealed and yelled, "I thought maybe we were going for ice cream. This is WAY BETTER!"

We sat right next to Julie, and CC peppered her with questions the entire time. After Emily's first number, a jazz routine, Julie went backstage to help Emily change costumes -- and took CC with her! So CC got to see hundreds of dancers getting ready, all the costumes and tutus and props and enough sequins to glaze her eyes over. CC was in heaven.

We left after Emily's second number (tap, with a short solo by Emily), but by then we'd seen about 30 dance routines. For two hours, she sat still in her seat, mesmerized by all the dancing. Unlike her own recital (which was only the 4-5 year olds, doing ballet or tap), this revue included toddlers up to high schoolers, and all types of dance. CC has now been introduced to hip-hop, lyrical, jazz and pointe. Hip hop was quite the eye-opener, let me tell you! I'm not sure I've recovered yet from watching 6-year-olds twerk.

CC has decided that this should become an annual tradition: just her and me. I can't complain; it was a very enjoyable evening!

Chicken Little

When Little Man was tiny, MJ's mom gave me several outfits that were his when he was young. Little Man is finally big enough to fit into one of them, so I put him in it the other day:

Fortunately, MJ's mom had a picture of MJ wearing this same outfit back in 1979!

There are more outfits coming up this winter, including some baseball-themed overalls that I think Little Man will love.

Gym Antics

Since CC has been in preschool this fall, I enrolled Sweet Pea and Little Man in a toddler gym program. This place is amazing -- it's a gymnasium-sized room chock full of padded ramps, tunnels and swings, plus trampolines, bounce houses, riding cars, and anything else that might entertain a toddler. Every square inch of the floor space has some kind of ramp or pad or device for the kids to climb, sing on, jump from or bounce on. It is impossible for anyone to get hurt here!

Anyway, here's a video I've made from clips of the twins playing at our gym over the last few months. It took them a long time to really start going crazy on all the equipment, but now they run into the gym every Wednesday at full speed, ready to tackle anything they see. Enjoy!

Direct link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXWYiHN1RHM&feature=youtu.be

Glasses, Part II

So ... this happened:

It was very deliberate. Mommy is not happy. Another pair is on order, and I am hopeful she will be better with the next pair.

Happy Camper

For the first time this year, CC attended our neighborhood's annual camp week, run by several teenage girls who live down the street.

I'd heard great things about this camp from other neighborhood moms, and I wasn't disappointed! Earlier in the summer, the counselors sent a flyer to every home, detailing the theme, schedule, art project, games and even snacks for each day. I was suitably impressed. 

About 25 kids attended, and on the final day the parents were invited to come for the awards and a slide show. CC was awarded "Friendliest Camper," and received "Camper of the Day" earlier in the week. She was very proud of her accomplishments (and the accompanying candy). The slide show was adorable -- set to music and featuring both still shots and funny video of the goings-on during the week.

CC had a blast, and is still talking about it on a daily basis. Camp art projects are decorating our house, and her favorite is the t-shirt (pictured above) that she decorated herself. With some help.

I can't wait till next year, when Little Man and Sweet Pea will attend too! Bravo to the "big kids" who made camp such a success!

Night(s) on the Town

We returned yesterday from a weekend away. A weekend that included not only a date night but also a friend's wedding celebration (both thanks to my parents, for watching the kids!).

Proof:

I hadn't been to a wedding in years, and it was nice to kick back, dance (yes, MJ got on the dance floor with me!), and laugh all night with the fun couples at our table. It was totally worth the exhaustion the next day!

But the weekend away kicked off one of the busiest stints the Morrisons will ever know: every single weekend from now until September includes multiple major events, plus several sets of guests, the twins' second birthday party, and a project so massive, MJ and I haven't even decided for sure if we're going through with it (more on that later).

So although we're very excited about all the fun activities and visitors coming up, say a little prayer for us that everything goes as planned. Because if one thing goes wrong, all the wheels are falling off this Morrison train!

CC's New Look

This is a pretty monumental week in the life of our CC. First, she went to day camp and was away for the first time in her short life. Second, she starts soccer this Saturday (pictures to come!). Third, as of yesterday, she has glasses:

After her three-year checkup, the pediatrician recommended we take her to an ophthalmologist. We did, and it turns out CC has an astigmatism in her right eye -- although her left eye is fine. So she will need to wear glasses with a prescription in the right lens and basically clear glass in the left.

Fortunately, at this age an astigmatism is correctable. It's possible that after a year or two of wearing glasses, CC's right eye might be fine. (With my horrible vision, it's likely all three kids will need glasses eventually anyway, but one can hope!)

So far CC seems to like her glasses. She's been showered with compliments from everyone who's seen her, and we've been emphasizing what a big girl she is to have glasses. Several of her friends have them, as well as her cousin Anna, so she is in good company. 

My friends have been wonderful through this process, even coming shopping with me -- twice -- to pick frames that fit and flatter her face. Carol sent her this book:

And Traci gave her this OptiPet to keep her glasses safe at night:

Thank the Lord for my awesome network of friends! They're making CC feel beautiful and grown-up, and helping us all with this transition.

Profiles in Cuteness

(sorry, I couldn't resist!)

When CC was 18 months old, we had her silhouette cut. I never would have thought of this, but it was a gift from some of our dearest friends, and I was thrilled with how it turned out:

So when Sweet Pea and Little Man turned 18 months old, I had their silhouettes cut as well:

It's surprising to us how well we can recognize each child from just a profile silhouette! I think the artist did an excellent job, especially considering she does it freehand, with no drawing or tracing at all. Even better, she included multiple copies for each child, so I have extras to put in their baby books.

In case anyone's interested, we used Kathryn Flocken, and her website is www.paperportraits.com.