We finally got a new camera!!!!!!!!!

We had a camera. A nice one. It died. At the zoo in Atlanta.

Now we have a new one. So I can start blogging again. Without stealing pictures.

(except ours is copper)

The Paper Paccie

Around our house, the paccie may be gone but it is certainly not forgotten. Oh yes, Maddy goes to sleep just fine without it now but when she is having a rough day, Maddy still wants it! In fact, when we were recently discussing the "prize" to work towards for this "round" on the behavior chart, Cady wanted to work towards princess toothpaste but Maddy chose a paccie. Upon being denied that request, she settled on princess toothpaste too but I'm sure it's a pretty poor substitute for a paccie, in her book.

Recently, when Maddy had had a particularly difficult evening, she had a tough time falling asleep. She fussed and fussed. She cried and cried for her paccie. After a few attempts on my part to calm her down, big sis trotted upstairs to see what she could do to help. After a few minutes, Cady came back downstairs and began drawing. What was she drawing? You got it -- a paccie!! Her sister wanted a paccie, so Cady drew her one and carefully cut it out. She then took it up to Maddy, who quieted down soon thereafter.

The next morning when I went in to wake them up, Maddy was snuggled up in her crib, clutching her paper paccie.

Happy Birthday, Superman Guy!!

Yes, today is Ray's birthday and yes, that is what Maddy said to him this morning!

Musings on motherhood

My father, the great educator in my book, always used to say that a child's personality is formed by the time he/she is five years old. If that is the case, then we're in trouble. And I feel as if I'm the cause.

Let me vent. Our dear firstborn, Cady, can be sweet and so very helpful. Her temperament is can turn on a dime, however and she gets what we refer to as her "angry face." She tries me beyond anything I've ever experienced before. I pledge daily to myself and to God that I will be patient and loving, yet many days Cady pushes me (and pushes me and pushes me) to where I "lose it", sometimes before we're even out the door in the morning. Hair brushing is never good.

I want so badly to be consistent and calm and patient. I try. I really do. Really, really. But I feel as though the times that I have failed in that department have molded Cady into a sometimes angry, sometimes sad little girl and it breaks my heart. But when I see her treat her sister unkindly ... ooo, I get so mad. And pre-school? Not a fan sometimes. It's made her grow up faster than I'd like. Coming home with words like "Booty" and "boyfriend".

How can I teach my little girl to be kind and compassionate when I'm imperfect? I feel like Cady just remembers my outbursts and follows suit, instead of noting the rest of the time when I think I'm a pretty good mom.

And I guarantee that, in black and white, this does not sound like that big of a problem but if you could see the face, the stomping from the room, see how quickly she gets angry and frustrated, hear the "I hate homework", you'd understand why I tear up as I write this.

Visiting family (part 1)

On July 2, the four of us flew up to Maryland to spend the long holiday weekend in Salisbury with Mom and Pat. Ray aptly described our visit in one word, serenity.

Highlights of our weekend (sans pictures due to the tragic passing of our camera) included:

• Ray and I took Cady to the Hebron Fireman's Carnival, a little local carnival complete with cotton candy, Bingo and a rickety roller coaster. All was going well until we all loaded onto the ferris wheel ... the ride was reeeeaaaaallllly long and fast, and combined with some greasy carnival food, well, let's just say we headed home soon thereafter.
• Ray helped Pat put in a house fan. This was a full-day project where Ray got to hone his installation skills, having put one in our house a few months ago.
• After I drove Ray back to the airport in Baltimore, I drove to Alexandria, VA to spend some time with old friends. Jill and Amy, thanks for being great hostesses and Mom, thanks for watching the girls for a whole day!! It was wonderful to get away for a day, do a little shopping, and go out to dinner with friends.
• Blueberry picking with Mom. We spent barely 30 minutes at a local farm and we picked a LOT of blueberries and we discovered that Cady is a great little picker! She is discriminating and enthusiastic!

We spent 9 days in Salisbury and we were still not ready to leave.

Visiting family (part 2)

After spending a wonderful week in Maryland, we traveled down the Virginia Beach to spend the rest of our vacation with Ray's parents. With the exception of one cloudy day, the weather couldn't have been better for "beach week"!! It was a little cooler than usual July weather and sunny, sunny, sunny! We invited friends over for a couple mornings on the beach and spent some lovely evenings relaxing on the beach as well.

Grandma Weezie was kind enough to watch the girls several times so I could do fun things like shopping BY MYSELF, going out to breakfast with a dear friend, and going out on a girl date to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Louise spoils me!!

On our last day in Virginia Beach, we went with Grandma Weezie to Hunt Club Farm, a local farm with a petting zoo. I was hoping for pony rides too but those are only on the weekends. Boo. The petting zoo was great though! We fed the goats, walked into the chickens' pen and Maddy even fed the horse. There was a giant sandbox that the girls played in for about 3 minutes. After playing on the playground, we ate our picnic lunch and headed home.

It was an absolutely fab-fab-fabulous (Cady's word) vacation and none of us wanted to come home, except to see Daddy!

Adieu to the pacifier!

For months now, I have been planning to wean Maddy off her ever-more addicting pacifier. Apparently, children get MORE attached to the thing as they get older, so I've been dreading it. Putting it off. Avoiding it. But Ray suggested that we take advantage of our trip to visit our families and accidentally "leave" the pacifiers there.

Make no mistake, it wasn't an accident and we didn't leave them there. That makes it doubly difficult when Maddy is asking, pleading and crying for her pacifier!!

We arrived home from our two-week vacation a week ago and we started our experiment that night. We figured that Maddy would be out of sorts after the vacation and all the traveling, so might as well add fuel to the fire and go for broke. Boy, did she wail! I think I was crying just as hard as she was, and it was so hard because I knew exactly where the object of her desire was. If Ray hadn't been strong, I would've broken down.

But I have to say, since that first night, it's been bearable. Not enjoyable, but bearable. Maddy still asks for her pacifier daily but isn't crying for it. The worst side effect is that, since her mouth isn't plugged up, she won't quiet down and GO TO SLEEP when it's bedtime or naptime!! She talks to her bear, her babies, Cady, herself, whoever. It's taking her an average of an hour to fall asleep at naptime. And for those of you who know me well, you know that I don't like variations in sleep schedules ... but we're surviving!!

HOT + Atlanta = Our trip to HOTlanta!

The girls and I spent a few days visiting the R5 in Atlanta last week and had a great time! The afternoons were so hot that the only logical choice for the afternoons was playing and relaxing at the pool.

On Thursday morning, we took the five kids to Zoo Atlanta. The R5 kids have been many times and were expert tour guides. We got to see lion cubs frolicking, turtles procreating (check YouTube for that one ... the zoo visitor next to us video taped it), and five Mechling kids sweating!! Lots!! IT WAS HOT!! Whew. So we wrapped up our animal viewing by lunch time and had a picnic in the adjoining Grant Park. It was on the walk over to the park that our camera took what I believe to be a fatal fall off the stroller, so it may be a while before you see any original pictures from me!!



As with most family gatherings, however, it wasn't the planned activities that were the best but rather just "hanging out." The kids had fun playing dress up together and splashing around at the pool. And Resa and I enjoyed chatting about everything from food to family, as well as watching Twilight on Wednesday night. We'd both seen it before but what can I say??

A small Rogers reunion

A couple weekends ago, we drove down to Columbia to get together with the Rogers' side of Ray's family. We met at Saluda Shoals park, had lunch and let the kids play in the water playground. Cady really enjoyed playing in the water, but Maddy stayed close to "home" (me). Ray stayed behind the camera and worked his magic!

Cooling down at Baskin Robbins

Well, it's June and it's officially H-O-T here in South Carolina, at least in my book (I've been accused of being a heat wuss!). So one evening last week, we grabbed one of our neighorhood friends and headed to our neighborhood 31 Flavors for an ice cream treat.

Reece's blast thingy for Maddy and me + sherbet for Cady and Julie = DELICIOUS!!

Memorial Day Weekend in Virginia

In perhaps what is the start of a family tradition, Ray and all his siblings gathered with their families at "Mom and Dad's" house in Virginia Beach for Memorial Day weekend. We made it up in less than 8 hours, due in no small part to my disregard of the speed limit and the fact that there was hardly any trooper presence in North Carolina. We arrived late Thursday night and stayed through Tuesday afternoon and had TONS OF FUN!

We tried not to schedule too much the first few days and just relaxed at the beach and pool. On Saturday afternoon, however, we got together with the family of Jon's fiancee, Anna. We just spent time getting to know each other, mostly eating and talking poolside. The kids were the only ones to actually go swimming. And Ray was quietly taking LOTS of pictures. He's getting pretty good!!

Beach Time

Of course, being in Virginia BEACH, we spent quite a bit of time on the beach. It's such wonderful, easy entertainment for the kids. Both Cady and Maddy are respectful of the water so I don't feel that I need to shadow their every move this summer. They had fun splashing, digging, wading and collecting beach treasures but most of all, they loved playing with their cousins.

The whole family spent a hot half hour on the beach on Saturday afternoon, posing for family portraits. It was well worth it and the professional photos turned out very well, but I have to say that I think Ray's casual snapshots are pretty fantastic, too!!

Back at Busch Gardens

We wrapped up our weekend of family fun by spending Memorial Day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Most of the day was spent divided up into two family groups: those who love to ride the big roller coasters (Ray and all his siblings) and those who don't as much/at all (Me, brother-in-law Tyler, and all the kids plus Grandma Weezie). Although I'm fairly sure Ray had a blast riding all the big coasters, I can't speak for him. I know that the "kiddie group" had an unexpectedly good time!! Something about watching your kids squeal with glee that just makes your day happy.
Maddy and Cady rode all of the kiddie rides possible, like the carousel, the little WWI airplanes and the miniature Clydesdales, but Cady also managed to stretch tall enough to go with Daddy on the Big Bad Wolf!! Wow. Ray is pleased with how his future roller coaster buddy is coming along!!

The whole fam met up in the German Fest Haus for lunch and Oktoberfest music/dancing, rode some more rides and called it a day by 6ish. We then drove over to the Great Wolf Lodge (of which we unfortunately have no pics) to spend the night. We spent the next morning in the indoor water park before heading back to SC and reality!

A date with my daughter

I'm quite behind on blogging but I'm just going to start with "now" for now!

Tonight, Cady and I went on a date. We went to the movies to see the new Disney Pixar flick, UP. It was so cute. I laughed. I cried. I think I liked it more than Cady did, because so much of the subtle humor goes over the head of a 4-year old. But she sure liked going out with her mama. She kept saying, "I love you, Mama! This is so fun!" And her mama sure liked going out with her (that was a whole lot of "mama", huh? Have we been in the South too long??).

A funny post script: In the movie there is reference to the "quiet game". You know, the one wherein the first one who talks, loses. On the way home in the car, Cady enthusiastically suggested that we play the quiet game. I was happy to comply. After about 30 seconds, Cady announced that she didn't want to play anymore. It was not fun! I laughed out loud!

Cady Lady turns 4!

Cady turned 4 last Sunday -- an event that she had been eagerly awaiting for, oh, about 11 months. We scheduled her party for the day before her birthday (Valentine's Day) and began planning a Princess Party (if Ray resisted pink when Cady was first born, I've resisted princess culture for as long as possible but I've surrendered!). Cady had been debating for months who to invite. Although she had considered inviting a couple of boys from preschool, she opted for all girls when I informed her that a princess party wouldn't fly if there were boys. We discussed party themes that both boys and girls would like, and after realizing that our best idea was a penguin party, we returned to the princess theme!

So her four little friends joined us for a morning of princess painting, wand making, and cupcake decorating. They had a lot of fun, but I think they would have had just as much fun if we had just let them play up in Cady's room! Live and learn ... don't prepare so much or get so stressed out about children's birthday parties!

Our Southern Gal

For the second time since we have moved to South Carolina, Cady is going through what I call her "Southern Gal" phase. Essentially, that means that she makes one-syllable words into two-syllable words when she talks.

For example, "there" becomes "tha-yare." "Yeah" becomes "yay-ah." I promise you, writing does not accurately capture it.

I think we're going to take an extended trip north of the Mason-Dixon line sometime this summer!!

Ode to Baseboards

From Ray: I'd like to dedicate my first blog entry to my father, Daddy Ray. Unless you are one of the three other people who grew up with me, you won't find the humor in this.

First Day of School

Last Friday, I was interviewed and hired to teach 2 sections of senior Government/Economics (yikes) at a nearby high school. The position is for the second semester which was SUPPOSED to start today but ... it snowed last night!! I tried not to be hopeful or at least set my expectations on a mere delay but it snowed about an inch, and here in South Carolina, that means CANCELLATION!!

Cady could hardly wait to get outside but even her excitement couldn't keep her warm! We bundled up and tumbled outside, stomped around, threw some snowballs and then got COLD. The girls lasted about 10 minutes. We just don't have wardrobes that are designed for long-term play in the snow. But I did snap a few photos (which blogspot is telling me that's it's uploaded but they're not showing up) ... stay tuned.

Daddy's little helpers

When my folks came down for the holidays, they brought with them 2 very sturdy wood stools, much appreciated hand-me-downs, as the girls were always fighting over our one kitchen stool. The only thing ... the "new" stools were emblazoned with Winnie the Pooh. I am not a Pooh fan, so we bought a can of Colonial Red spraypaint and Ray was ready to spearhead a new (and easy!) project. He gave each of the girls some sandpaper and showed them what to do. Don't worry, he didn't let Maddy use the spray paint!!

Naptime activities

As Cady has dropped her nap for the most part (I'm SOOOO sad about that but I'll refrain from whining!), we are now seeking alternate activities for those few hours when Maddy is sleeping and Cady is not. As a former anti-princess mom, I've now come around and see the value of 90 minutes of Cinderella. I can get a lot of cleaning/napping done in 90 minutes! Some days, we work outside or do art projects. Yesterday, however, Cady had a different idea ... washing dishes.

I completely approve.

Our second Christmas in Spartanburg

We stayed at home for Christmas again this year and were lucky enough to have both of our parents come to us. Ray's parents were here the week of Christmas and my folks came down from Maryland the following week. We had so much fun having the grandparents here.

Christmas day was wonderful! Ray is a great (albeit last-minute) Santa. It is becoming his tradition to go out Christmas Eve afternoon and doing his shopping. Crazy, in my opinion, but it works for him! So after staying up until 2 am (without me!), Ray had the living room ready for the big day. And it was BIG. I think we've decided not to buy our children any gifts next year. Kidding ... kind of. Seriously, Maddy didn't even open all her gifts. She just quit. No quitting for Cady however. She was up to the task of all the present-opening (see picture below of Cady clutching all her "stuff"). She did receive her #1 request from Santa: a kid's digital camera. Maddy loved her dress-up attire most of all! And Santa was thoughtful enough to get Ray yet another accessory for his tool belt!!


Christmas afternoon and evening were all about food, FOOD, FOOD!! We had the traditional Christmas ham, mashed potatoes and other fixings, as well as ambrosia courtesy of Daddy Ray. Ray also decided to make homemade cinnamon rolls and they were mmmm, mmmm, good, as demonstrated by Cady licking the spatula!

A quick visit to Atlanta

A few weeks before Christmas, I traveled down to Atlanta with the girls to attend a baby shower for Ray's cousin Jenn. We discovered that to travel to most places on "this" side of Atlanta, it's less than 3 hours. Not bad. Not bad at all. OK, I had to pack snacks, books, and other car activities (i.e. DVD player!), but the girls traveled great!

We stayed the night with another of Ray's cousins who live in the suburbs of Atlanta, Ron and Resa and their lovely children. Their youngest is Cady's age and she was so excited to spend the night at her cousins' house. The girls loved playing with new toys and new playmates, and Mommy loved doing a little shopping. Oh, driving to Perimeter Mall made me miss Northern Virginia! Not that it looked like NoVa but it FELT like it, busy, busy, busy and I loved it!! I have a feeling we'll be visiting Atlanta again real soon!

And I should mention that Resa took over 100 pictures of our girls, in an attempt to help me get some usable photos for a Christmas card this year. The pictures of Cady and Maddy on our card are courtesy of Resa ... thanks for not giving up, Resa, even when I was ready to quit trying!!