Cady's first love

I would not be doing justice to Cady's childhood experience so far if I neglected to devote some space to the first boy she has ever loved ... well, the second if you count Daddy as a boy. Anyway, Cady loves Calliou. She was a fan of Elmo for a time when she was younger and she enjoys watching Curious George on PBS as well, but Calliou wins her undivided adoration. Hands down. She's been devoted to him since November, at least, and that's longer than I ever had a boyfriend until I was like 22.

For those of you unacquainted with preschool programming on PBS, Calliou is a little 4-year old boy with no hair and a whiny voice that can drive a grown-up crazy. Sometimes when we're watching, I hear him speaking with the exact same whine that Cady has adopted. Not good. BUT Cady loves him because he experiences things that every other child in North America does. She is so thrilled when she sees him in a situation that she herself has experienced too, like the first day of preschool or getting in trouble after playing with Mommy's make-up. When those moments come along, she sits bolt upright on the couch and watches with complete attentiveness, often with facial expressions to match Calliou's.

I have to admit that, as far as children's shows go, Calliou is one of my favorites too (barring the whining). It's so real ... Cady really identifies with the little family of four. There are no dragons or talking aardvarks or red monsters or singing purple dinosaurs. Although fostering imagination is good, I'm a fan of reality ... and really, isn't a whiny kid about as real as it gets??

more vacationing in Virginia (read next entry first!)

After our visit in MD, Mom and Pat drove us down the Eastern Shore and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Virginia Beach, where we stayed a few days with Ray's parents. Needless to say, we spent some time every day ON THE BEACH!! Wow, we certainly miss living 15 minutes from the beach!! It's such easy entertainment for the kids ... a couple of buckets, watering cans and a shovel and you're set for a couple hours.

And it's one of my favorite places. I love the smells and the sounds of the beach. I love the call of the seagulls and the soothing, constant crashing of the waves. I love the smell of sweat mixed sunscreen and salty water. Of course, the beach isn't as relaxing these days but it's still pretty great, as the pictures below attest.

the Mechling's in Maryland

We just got back last night from our little northern adventure. First, the girls and I spent 5 nights with my mother and step-dad up in Maryland on their organic farm. It is so beautiful there!! They have several greenhouses, full of flowers and herbs of every kind, situated on about 5 acres. Everything was blooming everywhere!!




Day after day dawned warm and sunny, so we spent a lot of time outside, playing in the pool, feeding the horses and riding "bikes." It was interesting to see that Maddy, just like Cady 2 years ago, was enthralled with the animals. Her favorite was definitely Dixie, Mom's cat, who tolerated Maddy's affection with dignity (but then, have you ever known a cat that wasn't dignified?).

We also got to spend some time with some special people, both friends and family, including my brother Bud and my neice Maya, as well as my dearest friends from high school.

Happy Father's Day!

We did not get to see our daddy today, as me and the girls have been up visiting my family in Maryland ... we "celebrated" Father's Day with Ray last Monday night. Cady enjoying opening Ray's gifts and cards at least as much as he did and he patiently allowed her to treat his presents as her own!

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, "Ray loves his girls!!" He loves to get his hugs from Maddy, morning and evening. He loves teach Cady new things and see her excel, especially anything related to being athletic. He truly is excited to have Cady be his roller coaster buddy in the future. He's so patient and tolerant with their "Xtreme" rough-housing, and rarely complains when he's trying to sleep in a little but two little girls come and attack him in bed. I am thankful for him and the things he does to support and strengthen our family!

Hello, Summer Vacation!

Cady has officially been on summer vacation for 2 weeks now and I think we are both still adjusting. Even though she ended the year by resisting school each morning, I know Cady enjoyed the activities and playing with friends. It certainly had to be more exciting than hanging around with Mom and Maddy all day! I, of course, am learning to go about my day without that little break each morning.

We have lots of fun things planned for our summer, starting with a trip up to Maryland to visit my folks. We fly out of Charlotte tomorrow and we're excited!! Who would've thought there would be a direct flight from Charlotte to Podunk, Maryland?? Those of you know me well enough, know that I'm not actually from a town called Podunk, it's really called Smallsbury ... Salisbury, really.

Anyway, Cady performed in the end-of-the-year program on the last day of school. Luckily, the girl in her class who was supposed to be

front and center

got stage fright and started screaming for her mommy. She was yanked to the sidelines and Cady got her spot!! I thought you might like to see her in action. She's in the red poodle skirt, swinging her hips and NOT following the lead of the music teacher AT ALL!!

(excuse the videography ... I did the best I could with Maddy hanging on my arm!)

My Nemesis

Yes, that's right, my nemesis is grape juice (not limited to Welch's). I've never been a huge fan of it as a juice drinker, unless it's mixed with some other berry juice. However, having children drinking grape juice has deepened my emotion for this libation to loathing. Do you know how very difficult it is to get grape juice out of clothes?


I don't mean to spend a blog post on something as trivial as stain removal but it seems that I have been spending SO much time doing that very thing lately. It has been quite a learning experience. Even though vinegar or lemon juice after boiling water does help get out grape juice, if you can't bleach it as the last step, then you're pretty much stuck with it. Cady had a complete outfit casualty yesterday, thanks to the stuff. I dumped the remainder of the bottle down the drain this morning.

With you all as my witnesses, I will never buy grape juice again.

On a positive note, I did successfully remove a huge wad of bubble gum from a dress with the help of WD-40. Crazy.