"And Mommy, am I four?"

Because I spend all of my time updating Facebook, this poor blog has fallen to the side. But I thought I might take the morning to write here about Annie, to celebrate her on her birthday.

This morning she came running into my room, climbed into my bed and said, "Mommy, I woke up and it was morning. And so Mommy, am I four now?" She then asked how old Jake is and when I told her he's 8, she asked, "Does that mean I'm 9? Am I bigger than Jake yet?"

We got up and wandered into the living room, where she ran to the door frame to see if she's big enough to climb the frame. Can you picture what I mean here? Jake likes to use his hands and knees to move himself up to the top of the door frames. Annie assumed that because she's now 4, she would be able to do it too. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't do it yet, but felt better when I pointed out that Jake was 6 before he started that...

When Jake woke up and joined us on the couch, Annie told him he could choose the first cartoon they watch this morning because, "you'll be at my birthday party."

So I've left them on the couch watching a cartoon while I've snuck away to the computer to share just a little of what I've learned from Annie over the last four years...

I often hear that Annie is a lot like Ike was as a child. I also often hear that she looks a lot like me. But really, I don't think I've ever met anyone exactly like Annie. She's given me a perspective on life that is different from any others.

Ike and I often think that Annie is a little person who remembers being old in a previous life. She loves every minute of being a little kid. She does all the little kid things--plays, picks her nose, has imaginary friends, pitches fits, so on... It's almost like she was born saying, "I'm a kid again, and I'm not going to rush it!" Last night while she played with Ike, she told him that she doesn't want to grow up because she'll move away and not be able to play "puppy" anymore. Most kids seem to spend a lot of time wanting to grow up. Annie spends her time in the present--being Annie.

She's also perpetually happy. I mean, everyone has probably heard or seen her pitch a fit, so I won't pretend she's never angry. But the thing about Annie is, she's over everything in a matter of seconds. When she falls, she cries for a minute, then hops up and says, "I'm okay!" She loves to laugh.

She's also compassionate. When Jake gets hurt or upset, she's quick to bring him a stuffed animal or make funny faces to cheer him up. She's fun, she's cute.

And now she's 4. Happy Birthday, Annie. I would write more about you, but you're demanding my computer. :)

Snark: Defined

Urban Dictionary defines "snark" in this way:

1.	snark
	noun Combination of "snide" and "remark". Sarcastic comment(s). Also snarky (adj.) and snarkily (adv.)

Want an example?

This morning Jake gave me a big hug and said, "You are the best mom ever!" I said thank you and was all giddy like a schoolgirl (or a schoolmarm, as it were).

At the time, Annie was playing in her room. I walked in to put clothes away and this is the conversation we had (get ready for the definition):

Annie: "What did Jakey say?"
Best Mom Ever: "He told me I'm the best mom ever. What do you think of that?"
(Long pause.)
Annie: "Not quite."
WTF-est Mom Ever: "Um, really? Who do you think is the best mom ever?"
Annie: "Nancy is."
Deflated-est Mom Ever: "Yeah, ok. I guess she is."

Have I ever mentioned the middle name I've changed on Annie's birth certificate?
Annabelle Snarkzilla Quigley

Annie's Nightmares...

My children just woke up at 9 a.m. Bless them.

Annie stumbled into the living room and crawled into my lap on the couch. In her most pitiful voice she said, "I dreamed there were too many Crabbys*."

"Was that a bad thing?" I asked.

"Yes. I couldn't carry all of them."

She was so sad, so dejectd. I tried not to laugh and excused myself from the room to write this.

*If you don't already know, Crabby is Annie's stuffed crab that my sister gave her. That crab goes everywhere and often has to be rescued from places it's been left. I think I would love it if we had some extra Crabbys actually, but apparently this is a fear of Annie's...

The Adventures of Flat Jake: Part the Second (In Which Flat Jake Announces His Plans for World Domination Over the Internets)

When last we met Flat Jake, he was fighting Evil Tiny Spies and Attacking Arms in the Hidden Library. Well, not too many days later, he overtook a Poor Innocent Man (one who probably even had children!) to announce to the world his intentions. His intentions to rule over the Non-Flats of the world and to bring the Flats into power. Our fearless camerawoman stepped in to document (but didn't help the Poor Innocent Man).

Before Flat Jake could make his announcement to the world, he had to get directions on how to use the microphone.


And then he made his announcement. "Flat People of the world, lend me your flat ears! Today marks a new day for our people. A Flat Day. That's right: from here on out, the World will be Flat."


Perhaps soon our Flat Jake will have a Flat Companion in his travels...

The Adventures of Flat Jake: Part the First (The Hidden Library of Spies)

One of my goals today is to make Flat Annie (on paper, not like squishing her or anything). In the meantime, our Flat Jake has gone on two adventures so far...

First there was the Hidden Library of Spies, at a secret location. In this Adventure, Flat Jake first had to steal a Bright Yellow SUV...

...then attack a Young Spy, who was in disguise as a Little Sister...

After the Attack of the Young Spy, he hid with Non-Flat Jake in the Chimney of Death. Notice how unafraid they are. So brave. Also notice their Secret Companion, a Young Girl who refused to show her face on camera. Weird that she's dressed like that Young Spy.

Fortunately, Flat Jake and Non-Flat Jake were well-hidden from the Attacking Hands that came through the door.


Coming soon: Flat Jake's Adventures Continue...

Picture Pages, Picture Pages, time to get your Picture Pages...

Does anyone else remember Bill Cosby and "Picture Pages" from the '80s?


Were there actually kids who had the workbooks that went with this show? I always wondered. Just like when Jake was a toddler and I was always sleep-deprived...I wondered then if Steve could hear us when we answered him on Blue's Clues...

Picture Pages. Back when Bill Cosby was as hip as DJ Lance. Want more on Picture Pages? Go here.

Want pictures of my kids? Then stay where you are! These are the pictures I promised last week. I'm still working (in my head) on the What Not To Wear Quigley Special...

Tumblebees! Annie participated in Tiny Bees this past school year, a Tumblebees class that taught her it was quite alright to jump on the couch and the bed and to turn flips just any old place, regardless of the cleanliness of the floor. She and Jake will both be taking summer classes at Tumblebees starting this week, but her Tiny Bees class ended at the beginning of June. Want to see? Here she is!

Look, ma! I'm upside down!
Still upside down! This is Ms. Barb, one of Annie's two teachers. Did I say teacher? I meant corraller. (I am aware that "corraller" is not a word.)
Posing, practicing for her future Olympic routine. This is Ms. Carolyn, who will also be Annie's Pre-Ballet teacher.
Annie climbing the walls. She's good at this at home too.
Look, Annie IS well-balanced after all.


Moving on up...
Yesterday was Jake's last day of second grade. Last week his class had a Moving Up Ceremony to celebrate the two years they had in their classroom. I cried like a baby, of course. But Ike managed to get a picture of Jake as the class filed in the room. I love his happy face here. :)




Next post: The First Adventures of Flat Jake

No pressure, but you're a fun mom.

Today is the last Friday of Jake's second grade career. Guilford County is pretty much the last school to be getting out for summer in all of the whole world. I agree with the school board's decision not to cut Spring Break short (to make up for snow days), but right about now...it might be nice to just be done.

Anyway, so we're almost there. One more day on Monday, then we're home free. Then the FUN must begin.

I'll admit I'm feeling a bit more pressure this year than I have over the past summers. First of all, while I have a wonderfully awesome boss (who, yes, might possibly read this) who is allowing me to have a great summer schedule at work, the kids and I will still be fitting a whole week's worth of fun into 5 days instead of 7 (well, 5 days minus the 4 hours I work from home on those days). That's 3 weekdays, then weekends when we all know everyone else will be trying to fit in their own fun.

Even more than that, there's the second pressure. At Jake's birthday celebration this year in his class, his teacher jokingly told him, "We're celebrating early since you won't be in school on your birthday. That means you get to do something fun every day between now and your birthday!"

My gulp was audible. Or maybe that was Ike's gulp. Something fun every day for almost two months?? Do almost-8-year-olds get that kind of joke??

I emailed her later to tell her thanks, I'd be passing along a similar message to her daughter. This is when the real pressure came in: Mrs. C responded with, "You just seem like such a fun family with all your adventures that I didn't think that would be a problem."

Um. Huh? What in the world is Jake telling them at school? Our adventures? Strawberry picking? The library? Oh, and who could forget the co-ed naked toddler/young child bungee jumping*??

So you understand my pressure this summer, right? No sitting on the couch eating bonbons for us. We're a FUN family. Woohoo.

Speaking of fun, soon I'll be posting pictures from Annie's last Tumblebees class, from Jake's moving up ceremony at school and from our adventures so far with Flat Jake (similar to Flat Stanley). Did I say "adventures?" Whoa, we really are fun. :)



Coming soon...What Not To Wear: The Quigley Kid Episode




*It wasn't bungee jumping, actually. It was skydiving.

Bloggy Mommy's FAQs

Where the hell have you been and why aren't you writing in your blog?

Yes, thank you for this question, it's a good one. I started a job that I love at GTCC in October. I work part-time for the eLearning department. Working part-time in Jamestown with Jake in school on one side of town and Annie in an in-home daycare on the other side means that we have very little time at home. This means I'm hardly on the computer and haven't had time to blog.

Wait, what? You big fat liar. You're on Facebook all the time.
Um. I have no comment on this at this time. Except to say that if you're reading this and you're on Facebook, FRIEND ME. And re. the big fat liar comment? Seriously, we teach our kids not to say hurtful things to fat people. I'm working on it.

How are those kids and where are all the pictures??
The kids are awesome, as always. Annie will be 3 and a half in a few weeks. She's smart, funny and the reason I can hold my liquor so well these days. We cannot keep up with her. The rest of us sit back and just watch her go. Jake is 7 days away from finishing second grade. This makes me sad because we've loved, loved, loved his first/second grade teacher and we know we can't keep her beyond those 7 days. It'll be an interesting summer for Jake, as he hasn't really been affected by my work schedule. We'll see how that goes...

So what brings you to blog tonight, if you have nothing really new or snarky to write?
I'm glad you asked and this is the meat of this entry.

A friend, who suffered from child abuse throughout her childhood, asked me to post this “shout out” to a charity called Isurvive.org. Isurvive is a message board that offers free on-line support 24/7 for people who were abused as children. Isurvive is hoping to win $1200 by being one of the Top 5 most blogged-about charities in a contest. They can now add one more blog to the tally.

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Will you be back again soon? I'm not sure I can go on without you and I love you.
I love you too. You'll see me again next week at the latest. I might even find a new look for this dusty old blog...

Puppet Masters

This morning Annie had the brilliant idea of doing a puppet show. Jake had the grace and kindness to play along...and to do most of the work.

The results were very cute and made me feel like one of those moms who always has fresh-baked muffins and craft supplies...




The performance went well the first time through, but when the kids performed it a second time for Dad, Annie got kicked out of the show by the director for being "naughty." She pouted beside Ike and said, "I guess I'm too violent."

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. :)