"Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity-Dog"

You know it's been a long weekend when you have kid show theme songs running through your head non-stop. We took the girls to have their photos taken at a local photography place today. They have bunnies every spring that they bring in for photo shoots. We got some sweet pictures of the girls together in their Easter dresses and some of Lily alone. I'm hoping that by getting her 3 year old pictures taken close to her actual birthday, I can at least stay in the running for Mother of the Year. I'm suffering from Mommy guilt that Lily's party was cancelled last week and I have little to no desire to reschedule. The cake is in the freezer, the goodie bags are all ready... I just need to suck up and schedule a date. It's just so darn hard to coordinate a date with all the different people involved. That's why I scheduled it 1 1/2 months out the first time around.

So, when are *you* available for Lily's party?

Food Allergy Article

I want to show everyone what I found in one of the local papers this week. It's from the Cloquet Pine Journal in Cloquet, MN. They have an allergy response team in the elementary schools that practice drills on a regular basis. This is the first time I've heard of an allergy response team in the schools - I think it's fantastic. The more awareness we can bring to the issue of food allergies, the better.

*The link will only remain active for about a week. After that, articles are archived and they want you to pay for them.

Weird Science

We took the girls to the Science Museum of Minnesota last weekend. One of the perks of being members of our Children's Museum is that we get free entry into science museums and children's museums all over the country. The dinosaur area was a huge hit with Addie. She loved seeing all the dinosaurs that Daddy has told her about.

The "waterfall" entry into the water exhibit. We had to go through this entry several times.

The lights exhibit. Adam tried explaining to Addie how you could block out one light and have just a single color shadow, or combine colors to make new colored shadows. However, she really was more interested in just seeing what her shadow looked like when she moved.

Overall, the Science Museum was a lot of fun. It is definitely geared for older kids, but we were able to find enough things that the girls could do to keep their interest.

Goodnight Moon

Last night was the first night in over a week that we didn't have a little person coming into our room in the wee hours. We woke up to the alarm at 6am. With only two of us in our bed. In our own bed. I can't tell you what a treat that was. In fact, I woke up to the alarm thinking something was not right. It took me a second to realize that it was my alarm that was going off and that there wasn't a child standing in front of me. Then, I started worrying that something was wrong. Why didn't Lily wake up? Was she ok?

She was fine of course, just tired. The kicker is that I am completely wiped out today. Why is it that I got a full night's sleep and yet I'm so tired today?

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Daddy, Happy Birthday to You.

A Life Lesson via SpongeBob

We were watching SpongeBob SquarePants tonight as the girls were eating their before bed snack. I hold firm to my belief that SpongeBob is not really a show for kids. In this episode, SpongeBob and Patrick got Squidworth kicked out of his club so they tried to make their own exclusive club. When Squidworth yelled at SpongeBob and Patrick, I told the girls that Squidworth was not a very nice friend. I got no response from the under 5 crowd.

As part of the initiation into the exclusive "Feathered Friends" club, SpongeBob and Patrick held a stinging jellyfish to their tongue. They then held Squidworth's tongue out and stung him with the jellyfish. Addie and Lily thought this was very funny. I told the girls that SpongeBob and Patrick weren't being very good friends to Squidworth. Addie (never taking her eyes from the TV screen) said, "But they did it to themselves first."

"Addie, if your friends sting themselves with jellyfish, are you going to sting your tongue with a jellyfish?" It may not give me the Mommy of the Year award, but I feel like I've hit a Parental Milestone by uttering that phrase.

Have I told you today....

We have a new saying in our house. It is, "Have I told you today that I love you?"

Apparently Adam says this to Lily every morning as he's taking her to Oma's. Depending upon Lily's mood, this can either solicit an "I love you too." or a surly grunt.

I've picked up on saying it to both of the girls and now they're saying it back. It's a nice little change from the pouting that so often goes on around here.