What are those things called? Those extra swatches of material that come with your fancy couch. They are meant to protect the arms of your fine upholstry, so I’m going to call them “couch arm covers.” Anyway …

Our house is never as neat as it could be. For a really long time, I’d battle almost daily with Jocelyn rearranging the pillows in our family room. She’d clear out all of the pillows from the couch, chair-and-a-half, and the pull-out ottoman to make extra space for dancing and performing on her make-believe stage. She doesn’t do that much anymore, so Felicia has stepped in.

Felicia’s big thing these days is pulling those arm covers off of the couches. I’m not sure what’s going on in her head, but she’s pretty adament that those things don’t go there. She also rearranges our collection of oriental throw rugs, rolling them up and carrying them to a better place. This week, she’s been collecting these items and turning them into dress-up clothes. Today she was adorned in a blue-yellow-striped bonnet with a dark green tree-of-life mini-skirt. I couldn’t get the camera in time, but it was pretty cute. Until she made me wear them, too.

Martin counsins and second-cousins descended upon Atlanta this past weekend for Amanda Martin’s wedding to Travis Metcalf. It was a small family affair, and we took the opportunity to spend the full weekend in Atlanta all of Karen’s cousins and their families.

In addition to the wedding, we also saw the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, the Imagine It! Atlanta Childrens Museum, and a few other local parks and restaurants.

Last night at dinner, we were discussing the new Nutrition Guidelines for San Jose Unified School District. They are phenomenally strict and a bit absurd in my mind (food may be brought into the classroom no more than once per month, and only store bought food is allowed). I made a disparaging comment about the rules. Jocelyn said sternly, “Mommy, some rules are really important, and the rest are just life.” In other words, Get over it, Mom.

We attended the annual season-ticket-holder party for the San Jose Sharks last night, touring San Jose Arena and watching some hockey festivities. We also secured some autographs.

This is Sharks goalie Vesa Toskala signing the back of Felicia’s jersey. She subsequently sat down with Rob Davison, Mark Smith, Scott Parker, and Steve Bernier. The same players also signed the back of Jocelyn’s jersey … but since she wasn’t wearing her jersey at the time, the pictures aren’t as cute.

We’ve all been converted. Felicia is now sleeping in a real bed. No more cribs for us! A few weeks ago she perfected the head-over-heels, climbing-flip method of getting into her crib. We didn’t want to wait until she developed the dismount, so we switched.

We actually converted last weekend, but naps continue to be an issue. Unlike her sister, Felicia figured out right away that she could get out of bed if she so desired. But mostly, the transition has been smooth. Felicia got to select her new bedset from the store — Bed Bath & Beyond calls it the Exclusively Ours Emma collection — and she seems quite happy with her choice.

Felicia wanted to call Nana & Papa on the phone today. Ever since we told her we were going to Atlanta next weekend for a wedding — at which we will see Nana & Papa, and the Nashville Martins — she’s been demanding that we see them all right now. Thus, today’s phone call.

Jocelyn did the dialing, and Felicia planned to do the talking. But Nana & Papa weren’t home, and our phone call was routed to their answering machine. Felicia may have left a message … we’ll see.

After hanging up, Felicia wanted to try calling them again — right away … on another phone. They didn’t answer on Mommy’s cell phone, so maybe they’d answer our home phone, she reasoned out loud.

“Clever logic,” I said. Jocelyn’s comment: “That’s how Babies learn.”

Felicia started preschool yesterday! She has been very excited about it for more than a few weeks, and Tuesday, September 12, was the big day! These pictures show Felicia smiling in the play structure near the beginning of the day … and the wear-and-tear that her school t-shirt endured. Along the way, she did some painting, played in the sand pond, and made a blueberry smoothie.

Both Karen and I joined in the fun … as our family returns to SJPPNS, the co-op preschool that Jocelyn also attended for two years. Jocelyn’s first day of preschool was long before we had a family weblog, but you might be able to find some of Jocelyn’s preschool pictures on Flickr, if you have privileges.

Nervous mothers and grandparents can thank the Dew Action Sports Tour, which dropped into San Jose this weekend for this series of pictures. Jocelyn and I took another friend to the tour on Friday afternoon, and it was awesome!

Among many other fantastic experiences, Jocelyn got to ride on a youth motorcycle around a simple oval track. We also saw some incredible vertical motorbike jumping, some wild BMX half-pipe rides, and the BMX vertical competition over the dirt track in the parking lot.

This weekend presented a milestone of sorts. On Saturday, we went to a BBQ at Felicia’s Preschool. It’s the first time we’ve attended an event exclusively for Felicia. After years of dragging her to Jocelyn’s soccer games, ballet classes, summer camps, and playdates, Felicia got to take us to one of her own.

This is a picture of Jocelyn showing her sister around the campus of San Jose Parents Participating Nursery School (aka SJPPNS). In fairness, it used to be Jocelyn’s preschool, too … but she hasn’t been there since 2003. If you have Flickr privileges, you can see all of the pictures we took of Jocelyn during her two-year stint at SJPPNS, plus the growin collection of Felicia’s 2-day class.