Birthdays and Kindergarten

This is what happens when you don't blog enough - major milestones just run together. Well, for starters, today is Niko's 3rd birthday. Here he is making an attempt to give the "evil eye".

Isn't he just so cute? It's definitely true what they say about the second child- it all goes way faster than the first. We celebrated by having his party this weekend at our local park district building. It was the ultimate slacker mom's party - I just paid some extra dough and they decorated the room for us, made the goodie bags and even had a peppy young woman to run some super hero games. Here's a shot of "Hot Potato Superman".
All I had to do was bring the food and drinks and voila - instant partay. I did spend 4 hours making those capes, however, and they were a big hit for about 10 minutes.

Tonight for the actual birthday I let Niko chose his favorite meal, sushi, and go to Blockbuster to pick out a movie of his choice, Diego. Diego is a little better than his cousin (or prima as he would say) but in tonight's episode, who should make a surprise appearance? Dora. Doh!

On the other sibiling note, Nina survived not only her first but her second day of kindergarten. Here she is with the 20 other children with whom she will be stuck for the rest of the year:
They seem like a pretty nice bunch actually. Nina cried right after this picture was taken, but ended up having a good day. I mean it's only 2 1/2 hours for god's sake! After being in daycare since she was 6 months old, this was a breeze. Plus her teacher, the famed Mrs. B, is truly famous 'round these here parts for being the most amazing teacher since Mr. Rogers. Overall I'm happy. I mean, this is what we moved here for, right?

So it's been an action-packed week full of transitions. Up next, Cassie Quits the Punk-Rock Choir and Niko Starts Preschool!

Tomorrow's the Day

Yes, tomorrow is, sniff, the first day, sniff, of my little girl's kindergarten. Sniff. Can you believe how big she's gotten? Here she is pictured with her Nana this summer with her first (of many I'm sure) American Girl dolls. Tomorrow she leaves her toys behind ("No Nina, Ellie (her stuffed elephant) can't even come in the backpack to kindergarten") and heads out to big-kid school. I feel so faclemped.

The Fast Fast

On Sunday I began what I thought was going to be a 10-day detox/cleanse. The "master cleanse" as it's called, or alternately the "lemonade diet". Kaveh's cousin, who's 26 and just popped out her fourth child just did it, lost 20 pounds and reportedly felt great. She made it sound so easy and worthwhile, I thought I'd give it a shot. I mean, I went back to work this week after a summer of beer, wine, lots of grilled meat and trips to cute ice cream parlors. Plus I thought it would be a great thing to blog about and would get me loads of readers since everyone Googles diets.

So the cleanse consists of making your own lemonade with lemons or limes, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. I believe the last ingredient, although the recipe calls for just a dash, is the kiss of death. You just make a giant batch of this beverage, drink as much as you want and just wait to start feeling and looking great. I believe this cleanse is very popular with the 20-something crowd, because I've mentioned it to a few 26 year-old and they were all like, "Oh yeah, the lemonade and cayenne pepper drink!".

Anyway, so Sunday I start making a giant vat of this stuff with all the ingredients I bought. At first it tasted good and I barely noticed the hot pepper. As the day went on, I was still feeling great and was optimistic I could make it through the week. This was about 2 hours into it, mind you. But let me tell you, by about 7 at night I thought I might die. I had waves of nausea and headaches, felt dizzy and started getting really cranky. By about 8pm, I gave up and attacked some cherries and peaches. I thought I could maybe get away with drinking the lemonade and eating raw foods, but that didn't work for me either. Especially because the next day at a workshop there was a free lunch and I couldn't pass up a free lunch!

So much for the detox. Obviously I really need it, but am far too weak to do it. Maybe if I was on an island with nothing to do but lay in the warm sun and float on a raft I'd be up for the challenge. Until then, work will have to suffice as my one and only detox.

Writing is Hard

Wow, I didn't realize how hard it is to be a writer. Deadlines, typing, thinking. Whew! Who knew? My deadline is tomorrow night and I only have 4 horoscopes to go. I wish I had some of you, my beloved friends and family, nearby to bounce ideas off of. Right now I just have Kaveh. When I ask him how something sounds, I really just want him to say, "Great!". But no, he actually has opinions and really that makes me second guess myself and then I start freaking out that my writing sucks. So now I'm just blazing through them and telling myself that everything sounds great.

Wish me luck! Then Monday it's back to work :(

Always a Bride, Never a Bridesmaid

The summer will be over for me officially today. I start back to work on Monday, and although I am pretty excited about my new job, I don't feel quite ready to kiss the dog days of summer goodbye. But what's a working mom to do? Look on the bright side and start looking forward to some future events.

Here's one - my brother-in-law is getting married in LA this September! I get to take 2 days off and go to California again! Financially it may ruin us, but how often do my children get to be the flower girl and ring bearer in a wedding? Yes, that's right. They are going to look precious. I just got Nina her dress that actually cost more than my own wedding dress (in all fairness, mine only cost $100) and Niko gets to wear a tux! Could you just die?

My kids are not the only ones who get a chance to shine - I was asked to be a bridesmaid. Now, the bride-to-be doesn't know me that well. If she did, she may not have asked. I have only been a bridesmaid twice before; once for my sister who is now divorced and remarried (she eloped the second time, smart) and the other one I am no longer friends with the bride (well, recently we've started communicating again but that's pretty weird - "breaking up" with a friend and then trying to "get back together"). Hopefully nothing bad will happen in this marriage, but I'm going to start burning sage around myself every night until then.

On a positive note, she said we could just pick out our own black dress. Perfect. I love black and it gave me an excuse to shop at that fancy boutique in my town. Yes, there are actually TWO fancy boutiques La Grange. Impressive, no?

In Search of the Perfect Pool

As summer draws to a close, for me at least since I'm going back to work in a week and a half, friends ask me, "So what have you been up to this summer?" Well, we did go on a vacation to California, had many visitors, some nice visits up to Wisconsin to hang with the grandparents, but really, mostly what we've been doing is seeking the ultimate pool experience.

This summer I actually shelled out some dough to join a health club with an indoor and outdoor pool, a restaurant with full bar, a spa, and oh yeah, exercise stuff. The place used to be a "tennis country club" but I guess it was near bankruptcy so it had to open it's doors to the commoners like me. So we do frequent our gym pool several times a week. The moms there are tan, toned and bikini-clad. How this is possible when some of them have 3 or 4 kids I'll never know.

On days we don't go to our gym pool, we seek cool waters in other places. Sprinkler parks like Ty Warner (yes, that the Ty as in beanie babies), filing up the baby pool in the backyard, and even Lake Michigan, although I'm embarrassed to say we only swam there once so far. Today we discovered a new public pool, The Cermak Family Aquatic Center which was pretty deluxe aside from the fact that there were about 10,000 people there. There were several pools, a lazy river with inner tubes and loads of sprinklers. Don't you just love the sound of the words "lazy river"? Sadly I wasn't lazily floating down the aqueduct, I was frantically making sure my kids didn't drown, but hey, at least I know it's there when they get a little older.


Now we're home for another favorite summertime activity - the family nap. You know, it's very tiring hanging out at the pool all day. 'Night.

Moi, A Paid Writer?

Yes people, miracles do happen. I am about to become a professional writer. For two months until they hire the real writer. But for now, I am not only a writer, but I am a paid writer of teen horoscopes! Didn't know I was an astrologer, did you now? Well, now you know another secret about me, dear readers. Plus, I love giving advice, and the teenage mind is right on my level.

In case you're wondering, I will be writing for, get this, a teenage manga magazine called Shojo Beat. How perfect is that? I have been into Japanese animation since, well, Speed Racer (the actual cartoon), and also Japanese pop culture for just as long. Anyone recall Kero Kero Keroppi? I don't know how this life-long obsession with cute has led me to this path, but who am I to argue with the fates?

I'm off to brush up on my astrology skills so as to not make an ass out of myself for all teenage America to read. I'm also going to continue book 2 of Fruits Basket - highly recommended reading. In fact, just get yourself a copy of Shojo Beat, especially the November and December issues! Sayonara!