Hogar Dulce Hogar!

Last week I ran into a few people who had children on the exchange trip with Gabby.  They told me that their children had emailed home just a few times, but mostly asking for more money.

On Monday, I checked Gabby's account to see if we would be getting the "I need more money call soon".  Much to our surprise, Gabby had not touched the money that we put into her account for the trip!  Eric had given her euros and some American money, to put in her pocket, before she left.  She was living off of that!

On Tuesday, there were 2 messages from our banks fraud division.  They were calling to see if purchases that were made on that day were really done by the card holder...Gabby.  They found it suspicious that there was activity on her card in Madrid, Spain.  She had started shopping!  

Wednesday evening, my big girl returned home tired and hungry.  She looked like she had lost a few pounds, but was happy to be home and super chatty about all of her experiences and adventures during her exchange trip.  Those calls about fraudulent charges?  We all got souvenirs!   She did surprisingly well with the great gifts for Eric, Sinobia and myself considering she is stingy with her money and doesn't like to spend it:)

After a trip with Eric to Bills for a burger and some cheese fries, she was ready to talk, gives us narratives of photos, catch up on some American TV, and have one of moms home cooked meals before heading to her own bed.   

Ah...Home Sweet Home (Hogar Dulce Hogar)!

Dip-Dye...It's Only Fair!

What I have learned in the past 12 years as a mom of 2 girls is that:

• the younger sister always remembers what you did for the older...so you have to be "fair" (according to Sinobia).

So, while Gabby is away in Spain, Sinobia reminds me that I dyed Gabby's hair for her in 7th grade, so guess who's in 7th grade this year?  Now it's Sinobia's turn to have her hair dyed.

How convenient for her that all the rage now is the "dip-dye" look and that she really has to have the look for her "swag appeal".

Dip-dying is the new look, where you just dye the tips of your hair to make it look like you dipped it in the dye.

It's a little more complicated than just dipping, but I'm confident I can handle it, as Gabby received a head full of fuchsia streaks for her first dye job from mom.

I already have hair bleach to lift hair color and I've got a great collection of bright dyes (fuchsia, purple, turquoise, navy blue).  Of course, Sinobia wants a new color.  Her own signature color.  After several trips to beauty supply stores, we find the perfect shade of teal to add to our color collection.

We get up and get started early this morning.  Early for us on a Saturday morning is 11:00 am.

1.  For dark hair, mix the bleach/color lifter.

 2.  Braid hair.  Use a rubber-band to mark how much hair you want to dye.

3.  Apply bleach/color lifter to the section of hair below the rubber-band.

4.  Let color lift to the desired lightness.  I always get nervous during this part for some reason.  I always imagine their hair turning white, which would be perfect for this technique, but I'm too chicken to go there.

5.  Rinse/wash our bleach/color lifter.  Blow dry section.  Add your desired hair color to the section.

6.  Depending on the intensity of the color you want, let color sit for 20-40 minutes.  We let ours stay on for 30 minutes,

7.  Rinse our hair color, shampoo section and blow dry.

8.  I did it!

You'll love this...I'm emailing Gabby to give her the updates from home.  I tell her about my dying Sinobia's hair, because she got to color her hair in 7th grade too.  Here is her response to me:

"Oh okay I see! Actually I got my first streaks in 8th grade so....... Idk if you can do it now:)"

I've totally been scammed by the younger sister!   That is so not fair!   Ha...too late now!

“I don't eat snails. I prefer fast food.”

I am not the best cook.  In fact, there have been days that my kids have begged their dad to not let me cook.  It's just not fun to me.  Too much to do in the day.  I can't seem to get a Paula Deen meal on the table every night, but I do give it the good old Tracy Drummer-Aiden try!

So who would have thought that while Gabby was away on her trip to Spain, that the one thing she may be missing the most is mom's cooking!  It seems that she doesn't enjoy egg sandwiches, blue cheese pizza, salami and ham.  Hmmm, I bet spaghetti with Ragu sauce or my favorite chicken-rice casserole sound good to her right now:)

Besides the food, in my communications with Gabby, she seems to be having a great time in Spain.  I received an email from her Saturday evening saying that it was 3:30 am there and they had just come in from "bar-hopping" (aka: teenagers in the streets everywhere, since they have teenage discotecas!).  She says that Bilbao is a beautiful city and that her host family is treating her well.

Eric is missing Gabby.  Sinobia is perfectly content having everyones attention.  I miss her, but know that she will be back in full force in another week....college applications, the start of gymnastics season, catching up on 2 weeks of school work plus her regular life!

They will be leaving Bilbao on Saturday and heading to Madrid.  I hope she gets herself some good food there!

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

I tripped over Gabby's suitcase this morning at 6:00 am.  It was empty.  It was the suitcase that was supposed to be packed for her 4:00 pm flight to Spain...Today.

I left work early to get her to the airport.  When I arrived at home, the suitcase was overflowing with two weeks worth of shoes and clothes.  After a few adjustments, a backpack and a duffle bag later, she was all set to go.

Gabby will be rejoining her friend Ane, our fabulous exchange student from a month ago.  She will have the opportunity to stay with Ane's family in Bilbao for a few days before heading to Madrid.

As I left her in the airport, she willingly gave me extra hugs, looked at me and said, "Mom, please don't cry!"  I didn't.  I wanted to, but Eric was looking at me, waiting for me to start sobbing.  He had his cute little grin on his face, that grin that was saying, "Go ahead, I know you're gonna cry!"

I'll miss her.  She'll be back in two weeks.  I've got Sinobia all to myself:)

I'm excited for her to have this opportunity.  Excited for her to see the world, travel and experience other cultures.  This is what we bust our butts for everyday... for our kids to have these extraordinary experiences, extraordinary childhoods, so they can grow up to be extraordinary adults.

Of course, I'll keep you posted on how the trip is going.  Until then, Hasta Luego!

Evanston-Blibao Exchange 2012

This Job Is Not For The Weak.

On Saturday, our family headed down to Navy Pier for the National College Fair.

Yes, I said college!

Gabrielle is a senior this year and we are beginning our journey through the world of college choices, applications, waiting, acceptance (or maybe not) and $$$$.

I must say, that on my end of it, it hasn't felt too stressful.  There is the financial burden of dropping $70 to $80 per application that we submit and the worry of how on earth are we going to pay for college, but that's it for now.  I imagine it will feel a little more stressful around April when we are waiting to hear back from schools.

I feel as if the past few weeks have brought us all closer together.  Gabrielle has asked for me to help her organize her college prospects, remember all of her extra-curricular activities, achievements and awards of the past 4 years.  No eye rolling, no sighing, no being "annoying"....just collaboration and me totally admiring Gabby for all her hard work and achievements.  Sinobia is getting a crash course in college 101 and Eric is taking a breather from the college trips and visits for now and quietly glances over our shoulders as we continue our college research.

This morning, a good friend and colleague ("shout out" to Lizzy B) handed me a piece of paper with the title "The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto".  I couldn't read it in front of Liz.  She knows I'm a big cry-baby and passionate about my children and take my job as a parent too seriously.  She has listened to me telling stories about my girls...their successes, their failures and me and my never-ending love for them.  I brag about them to her and I bitch about them to her.  She listens.  She knows that outside of work, these girls (and Eric) are my life.  She knows that parenting is not for the weak.  I have been the strongest I have ever been in my life over the past 17 (almost 18) years, working beside Eric to raise strong, confident, loving, compassionate, risk-taking, tell-it-like-it-is girls.  Thanks Liz, this says it all...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bren/wholehearted-parenting-manifesto_b_1923011.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp0000