racing to the start

It's race day. And no, I'm not running the Marathon...yet.

But my girl Susan is.

And I'm venturing out into the rain to cheer her on.

So check out her blog when you can this morning. That's where I'll be hanging out. I'm live blogging for her.

Go Susan go!

Who's Amara?

In my ever crazed schedule, I missed Amara's parent-teacher conference this spring.

But Dad2Amara covered for me. ((slap)) Bad Mom2Amara.

Teachers2Amara spoke about Amara's generous nature. She apparently is a good friend.

She's such a kind friend that many parents went into their parent-teacher conferences asking, "Who's Amara?"

That's validation. Even if she's evil at home, at least we know Amara's popular.

But once Dad2Amara mentioned this conversation to me, I began to wonder.

Who is Amara?

Amara's strong. Beautiful. Hopeful. Loving. Giddy. Smart.

How about your child? Who are they?

she's talked her way to another milestone

After another eventful day at work, I plopped down on the sofa - laptop in hand - to catch up on blogs.

And that's when the phone rang.

Dad2Amara picked it up. I assumed it was work. But he immediately handed it over to Amara.

Amara?

Yes, my four year old daughter has received her first social phone call at home.

It was a friend from school.

What preschoolers talk about over the phone is beyond me. I heard a lot of hi's, um's, and goodbye's.

And there was a lot of silence.

Guess they were just catching up on the latest school gossip.

misadventures at the apple orchard

Ever dread something so much that you didn't want to get out of bed that morning? That was me today.

It was school field trip day. The skies were grey. And the fog was thick. I had flashbacks last year's snowfall. All I wanted to do resume fetal position under the covers.

But I dragged myself out of bed. And off to the country Amara and I went. We drove so far west of our 'burb that the farm we visited serves grocers not located in our town.

The sun came out. And so did a ton of Amara's classmates. Here she is with her two best friends.


After my daughter, Miss Popularity, made another girl cry because there wasn't enough room on the wagon to sit next to Amara, we were off to the pumpkin patch.


Only the pumpkin "patch" wasn't a patch at all. It was an open field littered with small pumpkins the farmers had scattered around. I felt ripped off.

Luckily, the kids didn't notice the white lie thrown at them. They were too busy navigating the hay mazes.


Notice the lack of pictures from the apple orchard? Oh yeah, that would be because apparently the horrendous weather our area has seen in the last few months meant a bad apple crop. So we picked apples not from trees but out of a bin! Some orchard!

But Amara had a fantastic time. Me? I'm exhausted from just watching her. I'm ready for a nap.

tea party

A few weekends ago, Amara wanted to host a tea party for her friends. Being the generous little girl that she is, Amara insisted that each guest have their own meal and drink. Take a look: her friends are colorful "characters."


Yes, I am slacking. This picture has been sitting on my camera's memory card forever.

best friends

They held hands throughout the entire amusement park.


Amara calmed Nina after a scary ride on the roller coaster. (Look at fearless Amara with her arms up before the first hill.)


And Nina hugged a crying Amara after Amara fell from her carousel horse. (Ooops. Bad Mom2Amara!)


Best friends are always there for each other. I'm glad Amara has found a great friend in Nina!

stop talking!

While I sipped my morning coffee, I gasped aloud when I read an article in my local paper about "girl talk."

But apparently such conversations are bad for our health.

You know what it is: when teens gather around a table, talking about the sagas with their boyfriends or their lack of money for the must-have shoes at the mall.

But experts say "girl talk" can extend past high school. Watercooler chit chat about the boss and emails between moms on our kids sleeping habits fall in this category too.

The article's author calls it "I wanna be in a mess, too" syndrome.

The so-called experts seem to think females just want to one up each other, even when it comes to our daily trials. Misery loves company, right? Supposedly it's true when it comes to women.

Researchers say rather than comforting women, these gripe sessions are pity parties in disguise that lead to depression in both the pitier and pitiee.

Silly me. Here I thought that by talking to my friends about personal problems, I was releasing pent up frustrations and strengthening our relationship.

And of course they say that men don't have this problem.

Would you have guess that the head researcher was a male?

today's good: Welcome to 1997. I finally got a Crackberry. Dad2Amara got a Treo.

today's bad: After a schedule filled weekend, I have gotten nothing accomplished, including housework and playing with the new Crackberry. Maybe today...

[Cross posted in part on North Coast Moms]

60 miles in her shoes

A dear friend, and some-time reader of Mom2Amara, is walking in this year's Breast Cancer 3-Day, benefiting the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Four of her great aunts had breast cancer so Mom2Amara's friend is lacing up her shoes and raising money in hopes that a cure can be found.

60 miles is no small feat. Em, I love ya, girl! Good luck this weekend!!