The Big Reveal

We finally decided to tell Cate we're headed to Disney World soon. We didn't tell her when we first booked the trip because we knew we'd be asked nightly when we were going. On a rare Tuesday afternoon date, Eric and I headed up to the mall, to the Disney Store, to buy water bottles and light-up toys for the kids. We figured we would give them to Cate and Brennan when we told them we were going to go. As we were checking out, the cashier asked if we were buying them for Disney World. We told her yes and that we were actually planning to tell her that night. (Sidenote: Brennan has no clue what Disney World is, though he does like watching the episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that we've downloaded from iTunes...but he's free at the park and so I'm not trying to leave him out or anything, but this was a much bigger deal for Cate).

Anyway, the cashier proceeded to tell us, that if we wanted to bring Cate up to the store, we could tell her there. Apparently they do this a lot-- they put your kids' names on the screen, get the whole store's attention, and give you a special certificate (they will do this for any special occasion, not just going to Disney World). There are digital fireworks that go off throughout the store and special music plays.  She told us Saturdays were best because they have the most staff there. And we decided that would be perfect. They can do a little parade around the store, but we opted out of that.

To say Cate was surprised was an understatement. She was definitely surprised and a little overwhelmed. You should know that we don't have cable or satellite, so other than a few commercials she's caught on the rare nights when she's been up for prime time TV, she really doesn't "get" what Disney World is. We've been trying to give her a little more of an idea these last few days leading up to her surprise by downloading a free Disney Land (not the same, but gave her an idea of what it was) app for the iPad and watching a few commercials on YouTube. When we went to the mall, she was expecting an Auntie Anne's pretzel. Instead, she learned she was going to be taking her first trip to Disney World.

 She called her and Brennan's certificates their "invitations." She was also excited by the light-up toys we got (for the parades and night shows down there) and her new Tangled water bottle (Brennan got a Mickey Mouse one) since it will be hot when we go.

A coworker of mine suggested getting Cate some starter pins for the pin trading at Disney on eBay. A little known fact about me: I am a HUGE Disney nerd and weirdly know a lot of Disney trivia. I used to want to be an Imagineer.  Anyway, I'm not sure when pin-trading began, but it was just gaining popularity when my family took a trip on spring break my sophomore year of high school and it had exploded by the time we went again two years later. So I've been collecting pins since then. Besides the ones I've purchased or traded at Disney World, I have one for Disneyland from when Eric and I went there pre-kids, and a couple from the Hilton Head Island Resort. I got my lanyard when I was there to run the Disney Marathon in 2007. It was the "year of a million dreams" and we got stopped by a surprise squad in Animal Kingdom who gave Eric and I each a lanyard with two commemorative pins.

 The pins you buy in the park start around $5 a piece-- way too much for a pre-schooler to buy and then trade. But my coworker suggested eBay. There are a lot of sellers on there who sell authentic Disney pins and have great deals on starter collections. Cate got 10 pins and a lanyard for $15! And the Disney cast members at the park have to trade when kids ask (apparently they are given pins before their shifts for this purpose). I asked the eBay seller to not include any Nightmare Before Christmas  or villains pins since Cate is four. S/he was great and gave us a few Mickey's, a Tigger, a dwarf, a muppet (Beaker...I may make her keep that one or trade with her), Donald, and a Pluto. She's all set.

Today's events have me even more excited for our trip! I can't wait. As a 30th birthday present to me, my parents paid for my Keys to the Kingdom tour, which I'll be doing one morning while Eric and the kids hang out at the resort pool. 

I think the above video should work. We'll see.

Cheers,

~Melody :-)

Tutu Fun!

My girl had her dance recital over the weekend. Last year, you may remember me posting about how she pretty much did her own thing. Which really didn't matter because she was having fun. This year though? My girl tried hard. 

 

The cool thing about Cate's teacher is that she is Montessori trained. So the classes are by ability level, not necessarily age. And the older dancers help out in the beginning dancer classes. Cate followed right along with the girls that helped out in her class. 

 She smiled and tapped and pointed and jazz-handed her way around that stage like she owned it. 

And when it was all over, she said she definitely wanted to do take dance again next year. I can't believe that will make year 3 for her! She said she wanted to win trophies for dancing (aka, be on the dance studio's dance team). We'll see. For now, my tiny dancer was tu-tu cute at her recital! And I am one proud Mommy. 

~Melody :-)

P.S. I need to show you my favorite costumes of the recital. They're pictured below and were for a tap dance to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." I think they are ADORABLE! Don't you? And to my friends with sons, it is totally okay to enroll your boy(s) in dance classes. :-) The boys in this class rocked it!

Happy Easter

Cate had an egg hunt on Thursday at school. The only large fenced-in area big enough for all of the kids at once was the cemetery next to the church. So that's where the egg hunt took place. They do have a fenced-in play area, but it's not large enough to hold all of the classes, plus parents, plus siblings.
Cate helped Brennan find a few eggs of his own.
Each kid was only allowed to find 5 eggs, which made it very fair for each kiddo.
Thursday was also opening day for the Cincinnati Reds. So we all sported our Reds gear (but I only managed a picture of the kids). We can't wait to head to the ballpark. Being so close to downtown means we can decide at the last minute if we want to head down to a game.
On Friday both Cate and I were off school. We dyed some eggs. I ate one and had no issues. I've been feeling pretty awesome lately, too, so I think the worst is over and we'll chalk it up to some weird viral or bacterial thing complicated by an ulcer-- which is pretty much what the doctor called it.
We started a little container garden in our backyard. I've never been much of a green thumb, so if this works out, we might try a raised bed next year. For now we're trying our hands at tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, green peppers, and strawberries. Putting them in containers means we don't have to deal with weeds.
Eric and I have decided if even one pot yields something useful, we'll consider it a success and try again next year. If more than one yields something edible, we'll aim for the raised box. Cate helped me decorate a large pot for each crop.
We visited the bunny at the mall. The kids got fun masks.
Brennan didn't scream or cry the way he did with Santa. But he didn't sit still for long. This was the best I could get unless I wanted to pay $17.99+tax for ONE 5x7.
The bunny visited my kids last night and was very generous. Playmobil 123 is genius-- Brennan loved the rocketship. Cate got a Playmobil egg with a zookeeper and animals. Of course treats and books were part of their baskets. Cate also got a couple of new coloring books.
He also left me this. My mason-jar lovin' heart is so excited to have a lid for when I drink my coffee or tea out of mason jars. Today we celebrated Easter at church and then with family. I think this quote from Brennan Manning (yup, that's where we got Brennan's name) sums it up:

"He could not be glorified until he had been crucified. The whole purpose of his redemptive suffering, death, and resurrection was to share with us the fruits of his Easter triumph." ~Brennan Manning

Happy Easter! I'm off to attempt to put two children, who have ingested probably three times their normal daily sugar allowance today, to bed.
~Melody :-)

Capital City

My spring break is quickly coming to a close and I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry, but I thought I'd share our adventure from the week.

Tuesday morning we ate a quick breakfast and headed out to Washington D.C. to spend a few days. One of my best girlfriends from college recently moved there.
Cate and Brennan were rockstars in the car. We made great time, only stopped twice, and were there by dinner. Coming home was the same-- only we added an 90 minutes due to traffic and thunderstorms that brought hail and crazy lightning. Anyway...our first full day we spent at the National Zoo.
Brennan perfected his smolder playing on a giant pizza. This kid is seriously going to be a heartbreaker.
Cate posed by one of the few cherry trees still blossoming.
My girl loved the meerkats in the small mammal exhibit. She was excited to see "a real Timon."
I also got what is now one of my new favorite shots of my rockstar kids.Getting them both to smile and look in mostly the same direction is a challenge these days.

Later that night, after all the kids were in bed, my awesome friend volunteered to babysit the monitor so Eric and I could go see the monuments lit up at night. I forgot my tripod and am still learning about night and low light photography, but managed a halfway decent shot of the Washington Monument. Thursday we took the Metro to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Cate couldn't wait to ride the subway-- probably because this is one of her favorite books. Brennan slept through most of the Museum. Cate was interested in some of it-- mostly the transportation part. I thought it was cool to see the real Star Spangled Banner-- the one Francis Scott Key was looking at when he penned the song. After a morning inside, we headed out to the Mall to let the kids run around. I thought it would be awesome if Brennan took his first steps on the Mall, but he wouldn't let go. That kid is so dang close to walking, but just won't do it. He did stop crawling around long enough to pose for his future campaign poster. Who wouldn't vote for him?That's a kite above his head, by the way. A few pictures and a stop by the World War Two Memorial later and we were on our way back to the subway. It had been 10 years since Eric and I had been in this city together (we went on fall break our junior year at Miami to visit one of my best friends from home while she was studying for a semester at American University). Like many places I've been in life, I found D.C. to be totally different with children in tow. It's not a bad thing-- just a life change thing. 10 years ago we explored the trendy parts of the city, stayed up way too late, and ate out for every meal. This trip, we explored the kid-friendly parts of the city, crashed around 10 every night, and ate most of our meals at our friends' house. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Thanks Jane, Andy, Collette, and Anderson for hosting us! We can't wait to come back and visit you again!

~Melody :-)

Spring Fever

With temperatures in the 70s and close to 80 all last week, I think it's safe to say that the Riggs family has spring fever! We've enjoyed having the windows open all week. We've made multiple park trips and played a lot in our backyard (well, until the random pop-up thunderstorms that accompany spring fever turned our backyard into a soupy mess.

We started off the week with Cate bringing home "the mystery bag" from preschool. She had to pick an item from home that fit in the bag, write clues to help her classmates figure out her item (the first clue had to be "it starts with ___" and the letter it starts with), and then bring it to school. Cate chose her Magna Doodle, came up with her clues, and got a little help from Mommy writing it all out.
Mid-week brought about a new opportunity for Mommy-- as a 31 consultant. To make a long story short, it's something I've been contemplating for nearly a year, I wanted a couple of the things in the new consultant kit (and it was cheaper to become a new consultant and buy the kit than to just buy the things I wanted), and I wanted a way to make a little extra money so that we could give a little more to some cool initiatives at our church. Brennan helped me unpack my new consultant kit when it arrived on Friday.
I've already found a use for most of the things in it. If you'd like some 31 swag of your own, I've got an online "Welcome Party" where you can shop by clicking here until next Sunday (3/25). All items will ship to me and I'll get them to you. If you're out of town though, you'll want to check the box that asks you to ship to customer and your items will come directly to your door (for only $4 more). Here is a link to my site. Please let me know anytime if there is anything you want to order of if you're interested in an Open House party or online/catalog party (hostesses earn free products).

Saturday I celebrated another Regional Tournament win with my Power of the Pen competitive creative writing team. We've won this tournament every year since 2002, with the exception of one year, where we lost it by 14 points (in the scheme of hundreds of points earned). Six of my writers automatically qualified for the State Tournament in May. And one of my writers brought me this cute gift to thank me for coaching her.
We headed to the zoo after church today and enjoyed some more sunshine. We also enjoyed the surprise of the zoo still having Great Lakes Christmas Ale on tap. It's a favorite brew of ours and around these parts, if you don't buy a case when it first hits the stores in early November, you most likely won't find it anywhere else but at the bars on tap-- it sells that quickly. I also got some fun shots of the kids.
We ended the day on the merry-go-round. 3/4 of the Riggs family fell asleep on the way home (Daddy enjoyed the quiet drive). It's supposed to stay nice until Thursday or Friday, when it dips back into the 60s. I'm not complaining though. We may not have had any snow days or delays this year, but the mild winter has brought a beautiful early spring that more than makes up for it.
Have you caught spring fever yet?

~Melody :-)

Growing Up is Tough...for Momma too!

This weekend brought about one of the hardest moments of motherhood for me thus far. Just before 5am on Saturday morning, Cate woke up to use the bathroom. Instead of going back to bed (she normally doesn't rise until 7/7:30), she proceeded to throw an epic temper tantrum about going back to bed. A temper tantrum like we've only ever seen on one, maybe two, other occasions.

We went through our normal consequence routine and it had zero effect on her. So I did the only thing I knew would get her attention. I told her she couldn't go to her friend's birthday party later that day. A party her friend really wanted her to be at and a party she really wanted to attend. The tantrum settled down after that, but Cate still refused to go back to bed and sat in defiance, awake on the couch, until the sun rose.

When the reality set in that she wasn't going to get to go to her friend's party, she started telling me she was sorry she had made a bad decision. She promised she wouldn't get up before the sun the next morning. In short, she was heartbroken.

But I stuck to my guns. I knew if I backed down, she would think she could get away with it another time. We did allow her to take her friend's gift over later in the day, after the party. She apologized to her friend too.

I think she learned her lesson. She was in bed by 6:45 last night and when she woke up this morning at 6am to go to the bathroom, she went right to back to bed and didn't get back up for another hour. I have no idea if she actually went back to sleep, but I have to commend her for doing the right thing.

She's starting to learn a lot of lessons as her personality continues to develop. Last week was parent observation week at dance class. I was amazed at her ability to listen, follow directions, and try her hardest to do what she's being taught. This time last year, when Cate started dance, my girl was lost. She hung in there, but for the most part just did her own there and frequently came to the waiting room to make sure I was still there. Now she never comes to the waiting room and listens like a pro. I'm so proud.
It's making me excited for this year's recital!



Growing up is tough and so are the lessons that go with it. But I stand by my decision yesterday. And I know Cate is only better for it.

~Melody :-)

Mid-Week Randoms

I feel like I'm just waking up-- and in a way, I kind of am. I've been in an anesthesia fog thanks to a couple of scopes I had done earlier. Since my ultrasound showed no gallstones, my doctor wanted to check my stomach to rule out other GI issues before pursuing the gall bladder thing further. Turns out I have an ulcer on my colon. Not a big deal and I'll get results from a biopsy in a week that will let me know if we're dealing with just an ulcer, colitis of some kind, or Crohns Disease. I'm hoping for just an ulcer. We'll see.

We spent the long Presidents' Day weekend with my parents in Northeast Ohio. We finally got some good family pictures (my brother and sister both work and are usually never home at the same time when we're up to visit). It was nice to have family love on our kids for a weekend. Brennan has been super grumpy because he's getting a few molars. He's drooling and chewing on everything! Cate woke up early, but my dad graciously got up with her all three mornings, allowing Eric and I to sleep in until Brennan woke up, which was usually around 8:00.

My mom and I did a little shopping. I broke down and decided to try skinny jeans. They've scared me up until this point, but once I put together this outfit (please excuse my cell phone picture of me taking a picture-- I was trying to text one of my best friends to ask her if she thought I could pull off skinny jeans-- she said I could), I was no longer afraid of them.
I guess that's been the one advantage to all of my issues of late-- I'm down more than a dozen pounds. Although I'd kind of rather have those pounds back and not have gone through any of this.

Eric and I escaped for a date to Starbucks and then to Barnes and Noble, where I picked up Billy Collins' book of poetry, Ballistics. I love his poetry.

Brennan played around and enjoyed his first Oreo. He spent most of his time crawling up and down my parents' steps. They're a novelty to him, just as they were to Cate (our house is one-story).

On Sunday we went bowling. My parents used to bowl a lot. I actually broke 100 my first game-- a rarity for me.
Cate loved it and was surprisingly patient while she waited for everyone else to take their turns. Brennan sat in his stroller and watched with interest while he snacked on pretzels. He didn't get fussy until the last few frames of our second game. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Our trip home Monday was uneventful and quick. Brennan slept for most of it. Cate watched a couple of movies. We hit zero traffic. And we got right back into the swing of things. This arrived for me:
Charley Harper is from Cincinnati and I adore his illustrations and artwork. Brennan has one of his board books. This book is a collection of quite a bit of his work-- everything from the Betty Crocker cookbook he illustrated to posters he created for the Cincinnati Parks. My grandmother (dad's mom) does a lot of needlepoint. The needlepoint shop where she works sells Charley Harper canvases. I may need to learn how to needlepoint just so I can make one of these.

Tomorrow night is conference night at school. It's going to be a long day. And given that I've done nothing but sleep for most of the day, I'm going to be lucky to get a good night's sleep tonight.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

~Melody :-)