Four P's In A Pod

Big Week

2011-01-16T17:18:00.001-08:00

It's been a big week at our house.

1. Addie lost another top tooth. Now she can sing "All I Want For Chrithmus is My Two Front Teeth"

2. Addie won 3rd place in the School Spelling Bee. The word that eliminated her was "elephant.". The most exciting part for her was the white ribbon that she got as a prize.

3. Autumn came to live at our house.

She's a Long haired German Shepard. She's 8 weeks old so I'm sure we're in for a wild ride!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Crafting Genes Run Strong

2010-12-27T13:36:00.001-08:00

In case there was any doubt, the crafting genes run strong in my family. The grandmas on both sides were knitters back in the day. My paternal grandma is still a wonderful seamstress and could probably knit circles around me if she chose to. She made the girls beautiful flannel robes for Christmas.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My 1st Grade Leader

2010-12-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

Addie is already showing leadership ability. Wait for the second song, it's hysterical.

We had two concerts yesterday. Lily's concert was in the morning and was absolutely adorable. I have some video clips of that, but will have to upload them from my phone. The preschoolers all walked out wearing halos and little snare drums made out of decorated ice cream buckets. They all seemed a little stunned by the bleachers packed full of parents and grandparents.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-12T19:00:00.001-08:00

Picture Joy Christmas

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A Day at the Farm

2010-10-17T16:57:00.001-07:00

While visiting my parents a few weeks ago, we took the kids to a farm. It was a very chilly, windy day but that didn't stop the kids from playing hard.

We fed the new lamb, the sheep and tried to avoid the greedy goat. Lily was afraid to feed the sheep at first. I had to help her by holding my hand under hers so she wouldn't panic. Once she realized that the sheep just licked and didn't bite, she thought feeding the animals was hillarious.

The farm had these ingenious duck races. The ducks floated down a piece of gutter into another holding tank. The kids had a ball - luckily there were enough pumps for everyone.

We had to "pause the play" to get cookies and hot chocolate and for me to warm up. After snacks it was posing on the pumpkins and watching the pig races.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Little Pupcakes

2010-10-11T19:24:00.001-07:00

Addie took Lily for Show and Share last week. It went something like this:
"This is my little sister Lily. She plays with me and she's sweet. Any questions or comments?".

Tonight the girls were eating when we overheard Addie say, "That's not how you say it, it's not pup, it's c-c-cup. You say cupcake.". I wanted to cry! We have so few of the Kidisms left, I want to keep that one a while longer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

2010-06-20T08:11:00.001-07:00

The backwards numbers, the single line of hopscotch numbers, this couldn't be made by anyone other than a five year old. I hopped on one foot down the line of numbers only to be told I was doing it wrong. Apparently you alternate single foot hops with two-footed hops.

We are off to the zoo to celebrate fathers day! Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Good Morning Sunshine

2010-05-26T05:00:00.001-07:00

These are one of the things I love about my job; I am able to drive around and see scenes like this every day.

Can you see the baby goselings and their parents? I took a close up with my real camera but also took this one for quick blogging.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wiggly Tooth

2010-05-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

We've got another wiggly tooth at our house. To try to speed things along (this has been wiggly for a long time) I bought some corn on the cob. It's one of Addie's favorite foods and since she hasn't really wanted to eat many apples, I thought this might work.

It's been a busy weekend at our house. Adam has been away for work, so its just the girls and me. On Friday night we drove down to my Grandparent's house to see my Grandpa inducted into the local high school Wall of Honor. It was back home on Saturday to work on pricing stuff for a garage sale. Today we ran errands (including picking up a new to us 2 wheel bike for Lily) and did more pricing. We fit in a bike ride to the park, but somehow didn't get the lawn mowed.

Hmmm... Maybe tomorrow.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sick Day

2010-04-13T10:08:00.001-07:00

We're having a sick day today. I'll leave out the gory details, but Adam found Lily wandering into the bathroom last night around 1:30 am. Much laundry was started and Lily ended up in our bed for the rest of the night. Sufice it to say, no one got much sleep. I don't understand how such a tiny girl can flip flop, squirm and take up as much room as Lily!

Now we are snuggled up watching cartoons. I'm hoping I can put her down for a nap this afternoon so I can do a teleconference for work. In the meantime there is snuggling, laundry, vacuuming, dishes, snuggling and no end of work to do around here.

Milk allergy update: all is good so far. We've tried "stringy" cheese which she loves. It's definitely opening up a new taste pallet for her. Lil informed me the other day that Oma makes better Mac & Cheese than I do. The kid has been introduced to Kraft!

Lily wants to type something:
Addie I love you

-- Post From My iPhone

Milkin' It

2010-03-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Blog, meet Rosalina. Rosalina, meet the blog.

Lily had a blood test last week to test her milk allergy. I am estatic to announce that she came back with ZERO reaction to milk. We now get to slowly test her out on tiny bits of milk products to see how she does. It's tricky with a 4 year old because she tends to be a bit of a drama queen. Does her tummy really hurt or is she saying that because she's hungry and Momma to carry her to the table? We'll take it one day at a time and a tiny bit of milk at a time.

To celebrate, the Easter Bunny brought us a new pet. Rosalina the Hermit Crab. So far Momma is enjoying the crab the most. I am completely fascinated with the little guy - I mean gal. Lily got the honor of naming the crab. As she said, "I want to be named Rosalina, but since I can't then she can be Rosalina."

Music and Lyrics

2010-03-18T17:36:00.001-07:00

One of Addie's favorite songs right now is one she learned at mass, "He Will Raise You Up.".

I was singing it tonight (incorrectly since I'm really bad at lyrics) when Addie started correcting me. It's amazing that a five year old can kick my vocal cords in both melody and lyrics.

In other news, here's a photo of the girls showing off souvenirs from Florida. The girls got matching dresses and Adam got the t-shirt.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

She's Stylin'

2010-03-14T13:52:00.001-07:00

Hey there pretty girl, what happened to all your hair?

We finally got fed up with having all the snarls in Addie's hair. While we were at my parents house, I took her to get her hair cut. The stylist cut off 8 inches! Enough to donate to Locks of Love. This is Addie's second donation to Locks of Love and she's only 5!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Orange Fairy

2010-02-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

Some of you might be shocked to hear that we have an Orange Fairy at our house. I would argue that it must be an imp or an elf of some sort, because this was a naughty fairy.

Today has been a non-stop series of snacks. My fault perhaps, since I didn't put either girl down for a nap. As I was starting dinner, Addie came and asked for yet another snack. I said no because I just had to throw out part of an orange that neither child would eat.

Her response?

"But Momma, I did eat my entire orange. The Orange Fairy came to our house and dropped a part of an orange and flew away. Recognizing that Momma would be mad and blame me for not eating my orange."

I've got to respect the creativity and the crafting of the story, at the same time that I am annoyed that she is lying to me.

Direct Proportions

2010-01-21T10:59:00.001-08:00

My blogging is in direct proportion to the number of photos I take with my phone and the amount of free time I have. Obviously I don't have much of either lately.

Last night we had a great playdate with our friends. I don't have wonderful things to say about our location, but I did get 3 free meals for next time. Considering I only bought 2 kids meals, I'd say I came out ahead.

The kids all play together great. It was really noisy and busy when we got there, but it didn't take too long for the big kids to leave. As a side note, if you're old enough to wear makeup, you're too old to be in Playland! The big hit of the night was Dana's new phone with the cool apps.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dear Santa

2009-12-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

Two Christmas' down, one to go.

We've had a very exciting week at the Big Blue House. We had to rapidly change plans at the last minute last week because of an expected blizzard. Although Duluth got the large amounts of snow, we got the sleet and slush. Still, it would have been hazardous travelling weather, so I'm glad we postponed Christmas with my family until Sunday. We had a quiet Christmas Eve at home, broken only by the constant, "Can we open presents now?"

On Christmas morning we were having breakfast when there was a knock at the front door. Adam asked Addie to go answer the door. I heard a, "It's Grandpa!" "NO, it's SANTA!!!!" Yes, Santa came to our front door (we don't have a chimney anymore). Santa gave the girls some toothbrushes, a hair brush and some "lipstick." He also told the girls a sweet story about how there are bells at the North Pole that ring all year long to let the elves know if the girls are naughty or nice. If they are nice, the bells ring "ting-a-ling," but if they're naughty then the bell will ring "ding dong."

The girls were thrilled that Santa actually came to our house while we were awake. Between that and discovering that Addie has a loose front tooth, it was pretty exciting at our house.

Lily with Great Grandpa Wally

On Sunday (after a late start due to some moron lighting their car on fire and Adam being paged out to investigate it) we headed down to my parents for an action packed gift opening. We missed eating with the family, but we had an excellent meal nonetheless. The girls had a blast seeing all the family and playing with their cousins. Now, I'm ready for a long winter's nap.

16 Days Off

2009-12-16T09:28:00.001-08:00

I never though I would say it, but I will be very happy when Addie's school vacation starts. She has 2 weeks off of school, which equates to 16 consecutive days. As much as Addie loves school, it is a long day for her and by most Fridays she is completely worn out. She really needs a few days to sleep in and recover. This week the wall came on Tuesday night.

She had a rough day at school, starting with me not believing that yesterday was a no uniform day. Then she got in trouble for "accidently" drawing on someone else's paper. At Oma's she got in trouble because while wrestling with Eric, he came out of the battle with teeth marks on his arm.

Obviously it was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1st Christmas Concert

2009-12-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

I had great intentions of uploading a video of Addie's 1st Christmas Concert. However, after waiting all day for the video to upload to Blogger, I decided that it is just too long. Instead, you'll have to enjoy a picture that didn't make it to our Christmas card this year.

Don't worry if you haven't gotten a card from us yet, they haven't been sent. I have wonderful intentions.... maybe we'll get them out before New Year's.

2009-11-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

Being in Kindergarten is hard work!

After weeks of swine flu-like symptoms at my house (everyone but me was affected), Adam was down sick for a week with pneumonia and now he's off hunting. This morning I was feeling like I had everything all together for once. The kids and I are packed and ready to go to my parents for the weekend. I got Lily off to daycare at a reasonable time. Addie was dropped off at school on time. I was feeling pretty good.

Then it hit me as I was driving away from the school. I don't know if Addie's had a snack in her backpack all week. We're supposed to pack a midmorning snack for the kids every day. I completely forgot about it. I know they have extras at school so she doesn't really mind if I forget, but I feel like a bad parent. I guess those teachers will be getting an extra special present for Christmas from us!

Lily has been having unusually red and irritated eyes lately. She rubs them so much that they get red and puffy and occasionally bleed at the corners. I've been completely baffled and didn't know what to do about this. I've been thinking maybe it's a nervous habit or something she does to keep herself awake at night. I've been putting my eye cream on her as a last ditch resort. Last night I mentioned it to Oma to see what she thought. One of the other parents just looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world and said, "it's seasonal allergies." Of course it is. I gave her some Claritin last night and she slept hard through the night. It didn't make it any easier for her to fall asleep, but at least she slept well.

Does that make me 0 for 2 in the parenting department?

Gypsy Princess

2009-11-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Lily loves playing dress up; as if you couldn't guess that from her refusal to change out of her "Michael jammies" most days.

It's not uncommon on the weekends for her to go from jammies to dress up clothes and then down for a nap. She'll get dressed sometime after nap!

Combining outfits into the frilliest of combinations is really her forte. After all, a girl can never wear too much tulle.

- Posted from my iPhone

The Donation

2009-11-07T11:46:00.001-08:00

There is a dinner auction for Addie's school tonight. I had a babysitter lined up. I had a date. Now its falling apart on me.

It is $40 a ticket and I bought 2, thinking my mother in law would be able to come with. Now that the girls have been sick this week, she isn't comfortable coming to our house.

I couldn't find a friend who was free for the evening. I convinced Adam to come home early from setting up deer stands so he could go with me. We were going to meet up with friends later for drinks at the Black Water.

Now our babysitter is down with the flu.
Ever feel like the world is conspiring against you?

-- Posted from my iPhone

The Evil Stepmother

2009-11-07T10:18:00.001-08:00

Adam had to be to work early today, so it was my job to get the girls up and running. I woke up Addie and snuggled with her for a bit. She kept saying "buenas noches Mommy" and burying her head under the blankets. I got her into the bathroom and her teeth brushed and got her brushing her own hair.

I started helping her brush her hair; she turned around to look at me and said, "You know Momma, sometimes you're more like an Evil Stepmother."

I had to tell her that an Evil Stepmother wouldn't care if her hair was brushed or that she was dressed in clean clothes for school.

Halloween Roundup

2009-11-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Bambi and Flower with Their Haul

Because of the gunk going through our house, Halloween was pretty understated this year. Bambi (Lily) went out Trick or Treating with Daddy while Flower (Addie) stayed home with me to give out candy. Addie wasn't quite as upset as I thought she would be, which tells you how miserable she was feeling. Poor kid was running a temp for 2.5 days.

Tail View

Lily waited until Sunday to come down with what we assume is H1N1. At least she got to enjoy Halloween now that she's big enough to really Trick or Treat.

Ugh, I sure hope we're over this crud now.

A Letter to Our Friends

2009-10-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Dear AJ,

I love, love the playdate we set up. Thank you for being nice to me. I hope we meet again.

Love,
Addie

Dear AJ & Sydney,

Thanks for the playdate. I loved playing princess.

Love,
Lily

This is a version of the letter we sent to AJ this morning. Addie insisted upon putting a picture inside an envelope and writing our letter on the outside. She was insistent that the "mail girl" (we have a male mail carrier) pick up the letter and bring it to AJ's house.

I kept Addie home sick today. We're just taking it easy - or at least she and Lily are. There's been coloring, painting, letter writing, and reading. On my part, I've been trying to use up the bountiful tomato harvest we've had. I made some salsa this morning and am working on spaghetti sauce with roasted zucchini and eggplant. Now, if I could just get motivated to do more than sweep the floors, we'd be in business!

A Pretty Good Artist

2009-09-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

Addie was coloring these giant size coloring pages this afternoon when out of the blue she said, "whoever made these was a pretty good draw-er. I can't choose just one, I want to color all of them."

-- Posted from my iPhone

Catching Up

2009-09-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

I realized that I hadn't downloaded photos from my camera in quite some time. Since I've been taking pictures with my iphone and posting infrequently to the blog from my iphone, I really didn't pay much attention to the camera. So... I give you photos from our trip to the St Paul Children's Museum in August.

The Peanuts characters are right outside a candy shop next door to the museum. While I ran into a restaurant and ordered sandwiches to go, Adam got this picture of the girls.

Clifford the Big Red Dog came out into the atrium and danced with all the kids. The kids taught him the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance. The room with Clifford's town was a big hit with the girls. In fact, you can just barely see Lily sliding down Clifford's tail.

Wagging their little beaver tails! The Children's Museum does a great job of having fun animal exhibits. The girls really liked this beaver dam. The other highlight was the ant hill, where you dress up as an ant and crawl through tunnels. It was really an amazing exhibit! What a way to spark children's curiosity about the world.

She Comes By It Honestly

2009-09-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

This kid loves chocolate like, well, like I like chocolate. She comes by it honestly. And really, can you blame her? The kicker is that because she's dairy free, she has excellent taste in chocolate. She can't eat any milk chocolate, only the very dark, very high quality chocolate. There's no messing around with this kid, give her the good stuff!

I did a little dairy test this last weekend. I tried making pancakes with real milk (one of my accounts gave me a gallon of milk). I miss pancakes made with milk. Lily got a stomach ache and diarrhea from it. She also seemed to get a minor rash "down there." Now that she's out of diapers we don't have the same obvious signals we had before. My question is, how do we know if it's still an allergy or if it's an intolerance? Maybe it doesn't matter. I'm not sure that it would change the way we live right now. If it hurts the kid to eat dairy, then I'm not going to serve it. If I get her tested again for the allergy, am I doing it just for myself?

Just Beachy

2009-09-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that winter is just around the corner. We had a great picnic on Lake Superior last week. Lily enjoyed being buried in the sand by "Jack-o-lantern's" daddy.

-- Post From My iPhone

First Day of School

2009-09-01T14:09:00.001-07:00

Addie is very excited to tell everyone that she is a Kindergartner! We got her on the bus this morning; all four of us walked down together and met the little boy who will ride the bus with her.

Then, I raced to school to meet her bus. The look on her face when she got off the bus was priceless! Pure joy!

I can't wait to hear about her first day.

-- Post From My iPhone

About Face - The Long Explanation

2009-08-31T13:16:00.001-07:00

I tried to give you the down and dirty on Addie's school situation Friday, but it didn't seem to save. Here's the longer version.

Last week we called the Transportation director (TD for short) and asked about busing since we hadn't heard anything yet. TD said that because we lived less than 2 miles from the school that we were ineligible for busing. I asked about the safety of a five year old crossing a busy street that commuters use. Apparently that is not their concern. Never mind the sex offender that lives between us and the school. I then asked about busing Addie to daycare in the afternoon. TD said we are ineligible because we live too close to the school and they do not have a bus that goes past that daycare.

What about paying for transportation? Nope. What's the closest a bus could come to a drop off point for daycare? In between our house and the school - again, too far for Addie to walk alone, not to mention that this makes absolutely no sense what so ever. I did look into carpooling, but we don't know many people whose kids go to that school. There is a latchkey program, but I'm not thrilled about that.

Then I asked TD the big question. What if my child went to the Catholic school? "Oh, then we could bus you."

Since this private school had been on our radar before, we decided to take the leap. Today we met the teacher, toured the school and are all set to go.

Stay tuned for photos in her uniform!

-- Post From My iPhone

A Snugg - a- licious Day!

2009-08-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

This morning as everyone was waking up and getting ready, Addie asked if she could have a Snuggle-a-Bration. I asked her if she had heard the word before or if it was one she made up. "No Momma, I heard it in my head."

I loved the word and I'm doing my utmost to get it out into the world.

So go, curl up with your loved ones and have your own Snuggle-a-bration. And eat this while you're at it! I'll have to figure out how to make it dairy-free. Give me a day or so and I'll get back to you on it.

Things to Do

2009-08-20T05:29:00.000-07:00

Addie's Birthday Party is on Saturday and all I can do is think of all the things I have left to do. Maybe I'm avoiding thinking about the fact that my baby is FIVE. I keep saying I'm not old enough to have a five year old; I can't imagine what I'll say when she is 18.

My List:
Weed flower gardens
Mow yard (neighbor kid was supposed to do this earlier in the week)
Weed Whack (see above)
Compost bags of leaves that have been sitting in corner of yard since last fall
Plant shrubs (3)
Move pool and other non-essential yard junk into the garage
Clean up little slide so big sister can take it home
Defrost Meat
Make side dish (don't know what we're doing yet)
Cut up veggies
Make dip - non-dairy sour cream, a handful of walnuts and 1 cup olives makes an amazing dip
Sweep
Mop
Vacuum
Dust
Clean Bathroom
Clear kitchen counters
Clean out fridge (reason meat is not already defrosting)
Buy buns
Buy coffee
Buy little bags to put goodies in
Clean Lily's room
Clean sheets on Lily's bed (Mom and Dad are staying overnight)
Buy ice
Figure out drink situation - beer? Lemonade? Pop? Definitely juice boxes
Buy Juice Boxes

Sa-Weeet!

2009-08-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

Cross Posted to Knit One Blog Too because I am too silly to figure out my iPhone app!

Last night was Wednesday Night at the Races in Superior. The people who organize Grandmas Marathon put on little races for kids each week at a different park. Addie and Lily (and I) ran in the 4 and under category. Before we started I told Addie to run as fast as she could but if we got separated to just follow the other kids to the finish line. I should have told her to run like the wind, because she came in 3rd!

Afterwards we went to Culvers for dinner.

Addie wasn't too impressed with the dairy-free lemon ice I got for Lily ( be sure they use a clean scoop!) but when her friend AJ came to the table with an M&M sundae, she was lovin' it. What a great way to cap off one of our warmest nights this suet.

-- Post From My iPhone

The View From Here

2009-08-06T17:02:00.001-07:00

The summer seems to be rocketing by. We've spent time at the cabin (very little), time with my grandparents (again, very little) and time just running around. Adam and I realized this week that our summer is almost over. It doesn't help that it's been a cooler than normal summer.

As of right now, I am in Portland, Adam is at home and the girls are with my parents. I love you girls! Momma misses you!

-- Post From My iPhone

Parenting is One Big Experiment

2009-07-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

I was going through some pictures on the computer today and found this one of Addie as a newborn. I love this picture. It always makes me want to coo and revert to babytalk. I think this was taken in the first week when she was very jaundiced. I was still stunned that a 9 lb 6 oz baby could have come out of my body, and that said baby could hurt me so badly (nursing, incision, lack of sleep, etc.) My most burning question then was, "is she getting enough to eat?"

Now that same baby is going to be turning 5 in a few weeks. She's going off to Kindergarten this fall and is going to be a big kid. Now my most burning question is, "should I wean her off naps now so that not napping in Kindergarten will be easier?" They have a short "rest time" in Kindergarten, but my sister the teacher says that kids start to tease the kids who fall asleep during that time. I've got to think that tends to happen later in the year, but I don't know. This kid really needs her naps (unlike Lily who can pretty much take it or leave it).

I'm planning on adjusting her bedtime closer to the time school starts so that she's going to bed earlier at night. I know that the first couple of weeks will be tough anyway. Like so many parenting decisions, there is no right answer and we'll just have to feel our way through. Hopefully we'll make the right decisions on the big questions and use the wrong ones as teachable moments for next time.

Flower Girl Training

2009-07-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Who knew being a flower girl would take such training?

First, we had to clean off the hands and faces of these little princesses. They were filthy from a picnic right before our shopping trip.

Then we had to try on the dresses at David's Bridal so they could get ordered in time. (Don't get me started about the craziness of ordering dresses for children 3 1/2 months ahead of time).

Then, there's the requisite twirling in the dress to see if it looks like a real princess dress. (They do twirl well).

The girls were absolutely crushed that they couldn't take these dresses home. The real dresses with be a lilac color with a deep purple sash. I'm going to make them little bolero sweaters to wear over the top of the dresses in case it is cold.

The final and most difficult part of the Flower Girl Training is the flowers themselves. Addie has put herself on a rigorous training schedule that involves picking flowers wherever she sees them. The petals get scattered willy-nilly all over the yard, house and cars. I'm pretty sure she'll be a pro by the time October rolls around.

UP, Up and Away

2009-06-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

While Adam was at the cabin last Sunday, I took the girls to see the 3D version of Up. First of all, I was completely shocked at how much it cost us. Apparently you get charged for an adult price ($9) for each person regardless of age! Add to that the price of popcorn and a pop for the 3 of us to share and I was feeling pretty broke by the end of the night.

Addie was completely fascinated with the movie. She jumped when things popped out of the screen and ohhhed and ahhed at the heights that the house floated to. Lily was a little less impressed. She almost immediately got her 3D glasses all smudged and yucky. She ended up taking them off and watching the movie without them until the end when I swapped glasses with her. In her defense, One Size Fits All glasses do not fit Lily. I'm not entirely sure that she could see out both lenses.

The movie was good though. I was a little worried that Addie would be scared by the dogs at one part (Lily really wasn't into the movie enough to get scared) but it really didn't faze her much. I would be cautious if you have a child who is easily scared. Like most Disney movies these days, there are enough jokes that just the adults will get to keep parents entertained. Over all, it's a sweet funny movie about a man trying to fulfill a dream that his wife had always cherished.

Things We've Learned in 4 Year Old Kindergarten

2009-06-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

1. Raise Your Hand Quietly
2. Be Quiet on the Railroad Tracks
3. No Running in the Halls
4. There Can Only Be One Princess Leia
5. There is No Kissing in 4 Year Old Kindergarten (ask us how we know)
6. No Toys on the School Bus (ask us how we know)
7. No Biting
8. No Taking Toys
9. No Picking Fragile Flowers (again, ask us how we know)
10. Clean Up Before You Read a Book

You Know It's a Rough Night When...

2009-06-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

... at 4:30 in the morning you are laying in bed composing your blog post for the next day.

I was woken out of a dead sleep by little Lily at the side of my bed asking for her animal pillow. I reached down to pull her into bed with us when I noticed that she was completely soaked and cold. Apparently the half a glass of pop she had shared with me at McDonalds that night had gone right through her.

I got her changed into dry footie jammies (because nothing else will do these days) and put her into bed with Adam. I then began the hunt for clean sheets. Everyone knows my saga with laundry and the never ending battle that we fight to get the laundry done and put away. Well, I've failed. I cannot find a clean crib sheet. OK, I'll put sheets on the queen size bed in her room. But wait, there are no clean blankets for she's peed on all of them in the last week. Into the deep upstairs closet I go, looking for a blanket that hasn't seen the light of day in at least a year. I finally found some that might be acceptable to our picky kid.

I take the sleeping Lily out of our bed (because I really don't want her to pee in that bed too!) and bring her into her room. She was very upset to be taken out of Momma's bed. I finally got her settled down and sleeping and went back into my bed at 5am. I'm not sure it was worth going back to sleep.

It Only Looks Bright and Sunny

2009-06-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of Random Bits and Pieces

1. We went from bright and sunny shorts weather yesterday to cold and sunny today. Yech. That's just the way it's been lately.

2. Over Mother's Day weekend my sister and I took the girls to the Shepard's Harvest Festival. My sister snapped a bunch of cute photos including this one.

3. We finally have Lily Pull Up free at night. She's been potty trained for a long time now, but we continued putting the Pull Ups on at night. I finally realized that she was staying dry at night but didn't want to get up in the morning and go into the bathroom so was using the Pull Up out of shear laziness (or crankiness if you want to get right down to it).

4. Addie's last week of 4K is next week. She's got a month of Kindergarten Camp this summer to look forward to, then it's real Kindergarten in a new school.

5. Addie finally passed into the next swim class level. She'll be a Starfish. It's nice because that forces the girls to be in separate classes which I think will be good for them.

Sugar High! Flourless Chocolate Cake

2009-05-18T19:20:00.001-07:00

My old college roommate is hosting a bake along on her site. The rules are that you can bake anything you want, it just has to be gluten free. Post a photo, a recipe and let her know what you've done. It all has to be done by May 25.

Since shortly more than 2 years ago I attempted to go gluten free & dairy free, I happened to have a favorite recipe in my stash. I can't tell you how happy I was to learn that Lily was only allergic to dairy - the wheat was a real killer for me. One of the things that I absolutely craved was baked goods. Bread, yes. Cookies, definitely. Brownies, oh man I wanted them. Cake, the absolute most. It was a blessing when I found this recipe. Plus, it has all my favorite things: chocolate, butter, coffee, and eggs!

Flourless Chocolate Cake
From America's Test Kitchen
1 lb semi sweet chocolate, chopped (obviously the better the chocolate, the better the cake will be)
16 Tbs butter
1/4 Cup strong coffee
8 eggs

Set up: Preheat oven to 325. Spray a springform pan with Pam, line the bottom with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil. set inside a large roasting pan. Bring 2 pots of water to boil on the stove.

Mix:
Mix chocolate, coffee and butter in glass bowl. Microwave until chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.
Beat eggs for 5-10 minutes. (the recipe says until doubled in size, but I think 5 minutes is a better measure since my eggs rapidly doubled but were not beaten enough).
Fold in 1/3 of the egg mixture into the chocolate until just a few streaks of egg remain. Continue adding egg mixture and folding until it is completely incorporated.

Pour into prepared pan. Pour boiling water into roasting pan and place in oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until internal temperature is 140. Cool at room temperature for 3 hours, then place in refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy!

Tips:
The water bath is key, it allows the cake to cook slowly and evenly and helps maintain the smooth texture.
The other must is beating the eggs long enough. I actually set a timer for 5-7 minutes, otherwise I get too impatient. This ensures that the eggs are frothy enough and helps with the smooth texture. If you don't beat the egg long enough, the cake will taste a little custardy in spots.
Use good chocolate!! I use the best tasting dairy free chocolate that I can find, which is difficult as they all seem to taste a little off.

When Daddy Makes Breakfast...

2009-05-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

When Daddy makes breakfast, it's always an adventure. Today we helped Daddy make green and orange eggs. They tasted great! We had a little picnic on the floor of the living room with our eggs while we watched cartoons. Lazy Saturday mornings are the best.*

*The best part for Momma was being able to sleep in!

Park Cleanup

2009-05-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to the park yesterday to help clean up the beach and park areas. The girls did very well to start with, but the wind off the lake was very cold so I ended up carrying Lily for a good part of the garbage pickup part. We walked along the beach and I picked up garbage while Addie collected feathers and pinecones. She ended up making a pinecone indian - a pinecone with feathers sticking out of the top as a head dress.
Later, the girls played on the playground equipment while I patrolled the area for litter.

The highlight for the girls was after most of the people had gone home. We paused for a snack with Bill. Bill shoveled sand off the sidewalks while I swept. Pretty soon I heard, "We need more sand!" Bill was shoveling sand over to the girls so they could "plant" their stick.

That's not a sand castle, it's a plant.

Swimming

2009-04-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

Adam and Addie went to Menards today to pick up some supplies for our new front steps (Adam fell through ours yesterday). While they were there, Adam found a underwater flashlight. Adam tried to broker a deal with Addie...

If Addie will stick her head underwater (the one step that's holding her back from graduating to the next swim class level) then she can have the flashlight.

"Maybe I don't need the flashlight."

Adam tried convincing her that she was able to put her head under water. When that didn't go so well, he told her that Lily will put her head under water and Lily will move ahead of her in the class.

"Maybe I will buy the flashlight for Lily."

Somehow I don't think this bribe had enough bite to it. We'll see how they do when Lily starts swim lessons next week.

Hoppy Easter Every Bunny!

2009-04-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

It was an Eastery Egg-stravaganza this weekend. On Thursday at Oma's the girls made little chicks out of eggs. Addie insists upon carrying them around the house and playing with them, even though they have not been refridgerated. We keep asking her not to play with them. I think they may have to find their way to the garbage can.

Saturday night we dyed eggs with Grandma and Grandma's neighbors. Lily loved drawing on the eggs with Crayon. The girls made a huge mess dropping eggs into the dye, but they had a great time. Good thing Grandma put down a tablecloth first!!

The dyed eggs. Addie announced to everyone on Sunday morning that they absolutely could not eat any eggs with a "face" on them. I have no idea what we're going to do with the "Face Eggs," but I guess they're being saved for a reason.

The Gang's All Here

2009-04-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

The girls had a great time this weekend hanging out with their cousins, aunties and Grandma Dude. We spent Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's with Auntie Rene. The girls got to stay up very late and eat Asian food. Sleeping in Grandma's big bed with Mommy was a huge treat for Lily. Addie stayed in Auntie's old room and was the first one up in the morning.

Naps were at a bit of a premium all weekend, but the girls had a blast. We stayed up late Saturday night in the hotel room and ate pizza. On Sunday the cousins came to the hotel and played in the pool. Both girls crashed in the car on the way home. I think they would have slept the entire 5 hour drive if I hadn't wanted to stop to eat.

Hopefully more photos will be coming - I took some great photos of the girls with other people's cameras.

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

2009-03-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

A Life Lesson via SpongeBob

2009-03-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

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....

2009-03-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Northland Moms Get Creative

2009-02-20T06:50:00.001-08:00

When it looks like this outside, Northland moms get creative on how to get their children to burn off some energy. We were having a lazy morning at home when Dana called and asked if we wanted to go to the aquarium. Our aquarium has some issues so I haven't been there in about a year, but it sounded like a good thing to do.

Addie and Lily were very excited to see their friends, AJ and Sydney. They ran all over the upper floor of the aquarium, barely pausing to look at the fish. Lily was very impressed with the moving stairs (she's a small town girl, what can I say?). In fact, she was very upset that you didn't take the moving stairs to get down to the first floor. The elevator wasn't good enough for her.

One of Addie's favorite spots was a little bear den. It's a little "cave" that has a fuzzy stuffed animal that's supposed to be the momma bear inside. Addie thought it was a great hiding spot and wanted everyone to go inside with her. Unfortunately, AJ and Lily were not convinced it was safe. Lily went in, but wanted to go feet first (just in case). AJ checked it out and that was as far as he would go.

As always, the otter slide was a big hit with Lily. I'm not so sure they were excited about the actual otters, but the slide is neat.

We finished up with lunch at McDonalds and more playing there.

Valentine's Day Walk

2009-02-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

This is cross posted on Knit One Blog Too because I am an idiot and wasn't paying close attention to what blog I posted on. :)

Adam and I took the girls for a walk on Saturday. Our plan was to walk down to the grocery store to pick up a loaf of crusty bread for fondue that night. It's 8 blocks to the grocery store.

We had no sooner gotten bundled up and out to the alley when Lily decided that she needed to be carried. There was no way I was carrying her the entire way (I've done it before and needed to seek chiropractic help afterward) so we got the wagon and some blankets out of the garage. Lily was very happy to be a rider, she kepting saying "Wheee! I'm on a roller coaster!"

Addie on the other hand, was quite the mountaineer. She went snowbank climbing and had to stop frequently for energy breaks (i.e. chocolate).

We got all of 4 blocks when we decided that everyone was too cold to keep going. We walked back home, got in the car and drove to the grocery store.

What a Way to Wake Up

2009-02-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Adam and I woke up this morning to the pitter patter of little feet running down our hallway. The sound was quickly followed by, "Momma, I'm hungry. I want hot dogs." What really brought me awake was Lily handing me a frozen package of hot dogs. She had woken up (God only knows how long she was wondering the house) and gone downstairs, opened up the freezer and perused the contents.

Otherwise, it's a lazy Sunday morning for us. Adam is fixing a broken water pipe (he's shut off water to the house, so I can't wash dishes or clothes). I'm playing on the computer, and the kids are playing upstairs. I think we might go to the Y this afternoon to swim. The kids are really looking forward to it - our freezing cold walk yesterday didn't quite bring the same degree of excitement.

Stay Right There

2009-02-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

"Stay right there. Don't move. Where's the button I push? Did it work? Why isn't this working?"

"Addie, just hold down the button. No, look at us in the picture and hold down the button."

"Addie, bring up the camera so you can see Mommy and Daddy in the picture."

"Yes, that button right there. Hold it, hold it."

"Here we'll move down so you can see us in the picture."

"Momma, I see you! I did it!"

Miles of Smiles

2009-02-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

This picture just makes me smile.

Someday This Will Be Used Against Me

2009-02-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

Some day my children will hate me. I understand this. I know that I will at some point be the Worst Mommy in the Whole World. I also know that because I have 2 girls, this will last from the time that Addie is 13 to the time that Lily goes off to college.

That all being said, I took this picture anyway. Knowing that some day it may be used against me when my children accuse me of breaking child labor laws.

Honestly, she's mad because her sister wouldn't give her a long enough turn mopping, not because I forced them to mop!

Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to explain to them that they really were taking joy in the mopping of a 3 ft square entry. They were fighting over whose turn it was. And when they were done mopping the entry, they wanted to mop the rest of the house.

Can You Tell What Party We Went To?

2009-02-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

We went to a costume birthday party this weekend. The girls didn't want to dress up as a certain green fairy, so we got a little creative. Lillian is the youngest boy, Michael. I think the deciding factor on this costume was that she got to carry her Teddy along with her all day. Addie is the oldest child, Wendy. Adam is dressed as the father, and I am the Indian Princess, Tiger Lily.

Can you tell what movie we're from? OK, I know, the green fairy is a dead giveaway. The costume party was a Peter Pan theme. We were greeted by the biggest baddest Captain Hook I've ever seen, and one of the smallest Peter Pans.

The girls had a great time. They played with balloon swords and even did a real treasure hunt for real pirate pinata treasure. Just ask Addie, she'll tell you the clue that she found all by herself (OK, maybe not all by herself).

The funniest part of the day for me was when Dana asked me how we just happened to have fringed leather lying around my house. Without skipping a beat I said, "Oh, it's a gun case." Honestly, I think if Jeff had been taking a drink there would have been Diet Pepsi sprayed across the living room. Apparently Jeff and Dana don't know that not only do I come from a family of creative costume aficionados, but so does Adam. They are also families of pack rats, and the two personalities work well together.

Happy 4th Birthday AJ! I'm so glad you invited us to share your birthday with you!

It's a Pony Train

2009-01-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Addie spent a lot of time setting up this "Pony Parade." You'll notice that the Momma and Belle are leading the Parade. Apparently the Ponies needed a human to lead them along. Some of the Littlest Pet Shops were honored to be part of the parade.

Hey There Shakey Shakey

2009-01-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

The Wiggles have made a come back at our house. Last night after dinner I was asking Lily if she knew some Wiggles songs. I realized that since Adam got his ipod, we really haven't listened to the Wiggles at all. So I dug out the CD and started it up for Lily.

She was a dancing machine! She shook when the songs told her to shake, she swung her hips when they told her to swing, she wiggled, she giggled, she had a great time. After every song, she asked if she could listen to one more. I may have created a monster!

The checklist of things to bring back and forth may have just gotten longer with this new obsession.

Teddy - check

White Circle Blanket - check

Wiggles CD - check

Hat, mittens, neckwarmer - check

The Princess and the Mean Bad Witch

2009-01-20T12:41:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, (The land was so far away you had to cross a bridge that makes mortal men shudder) lived a princess and a mean bad witch.

The princess was very beautiful and kind. She helped the servants in the kitchen and got the eggs every morning from the chicken coop. Whenever she saw the Mean Bad Witch, the princess would run away.

The Mean Bad Witch was also beautiful. However, she chased the pricess around the castle. What the princess didn't realize was that all the Mean Bad Witch wanted was to play with the princess.

One day, the Princess accidentally woke the Sleeping Dragon. The Princess was so scared, she didn't know what to do. But the Mean Bad Witch wasn't scared. She swooped in and saved the Princess from the dragon. From that day forward, the Princess and the Mean Bad Witch were friends.

**For those of you who can't tell, we spent Saturday morning at the Children's Museum in Duluth playing in the castle exhibit.

Dairy Free Rice Pudding

2009-01-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe. Tonight seemed like a night for comfort food. I needed (ok, wanted) something rich and creamy, but I'm trying to take off a few pounds I put on over the holidays. I adapted this Weight Watchers recipe to be dairy free. The original recipe called for skim milk, mashed banana and no cardamon. The points value was 2 per 1/3 cup serving. It came to 105 calories per serving. I would guess this version is slightly less.

1 Cup soy milk (or almond milk would be yummy)
1 Cup cooked rice
pinch salt
pinch ground cardamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Bring soy milk, rice, cardamon, and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Reduce heat to a simmer and stir occasionally until the milk is reduced and creamy. (about 15 minutes) Take mixture off the heat and stir in the vanilla, almond extract and cinnamon. Let cool to room temperature and serve.

I took this off the stove and threw it into the refrigerator while I put the girls to bed. When I came back downstairs the pudding was cold, but it was still really good. I think this will make a really good treat for the girls tomorrow. :)

It's a Win Win

2009-01-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

Lily insisted upon dipping her green beans into Tofutti Sour Spreme "Sour Cream". She barely touched the baked potato or the steak, but she loved the green beans.

The Score: Momma=2, 2 Year Old=0
The Explanation: Lily has decided that she won't take her allergy medicine anymore. It tastes yucky. Or something along those lines. I'm not entirely sure as to what her rationale is since it normally just results in me getting allergy medicine spit out in my face and all along the kitchen floor. I might let this fight drop, except I have noticed a huge difference in how easily Lily goes to sleep at night when she has her medicine. It really makes me wonder how stuffed up & miserable she has been at night without the medicine.

So I decided a little bribery was in order. If Lily would take 1 tsp. of allergy medicine, then she would get 1 spoonful of Lily-safe ice cream (homemade sorbet right now). The first time we tried it, Lily was really excited. She took the medicine like a pro. And immediately spit it back out in my face. Not even the prospect of ice cream would help this one. I didn't have a lot of hope, but I mixed 1 tsp. of medicine with 2 spoons of ice cream in a bowl. I gave Lily her "Ice Cream" and watched in amazement as she did everything but lick the bowl clean. It worked again last night. She even asked for more medicine! Which is slightly scary to me...

I feel as though I have won another badge on my Mommy belt.

Pajama Day

2009-01-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Break is over. Addie got all bundled up this morning and headed off to school on the bus. It was a little difficult getting her dressed this morning as she really would have liked to just wear her pajama's all day. Or a dress, but no pants Momma, and no snowpants. Ha, not on your life kiddo, it's 40 below out there!!

It feels like we've been gone a long time, instead of just 4 days from work and 2 weeks from school for Addie. I have lots of photos to share with you; snowshoeing, pierogie making, etc. However, since the camera is being a bit cranky lately the photos are on both Adam's work camera and my camera so it might take some time to get them all downloaded into one folder.

Happy New Year!

Oh For FREAKING FREAK FREAK FREAK"S Sake

2008-12-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

Read this post. Gerber has made it onto my hate list once again. Why oh why must they put milk in everything?

Movin' On Up

2008-12-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Lily got a painting set from Cousin Tom for Christmas - she is in heaven! Look at that concentration! That's her piece titled, Rainbow.

Lily saw a doctor today. I wanted someone to listen to her lungs and just check her over. She's been coughing since the end of September and it seems worse at night. During the day for the most part she is fine, unless she's running around a lot or going in and out of the cold.

The doc agreed that it is most likely asthma. He put her on an inhaler that she needs to take every night PLUS a over the counter allergy medicine. Some of her coughing and congestion may be due to an unspecified allergy. So, we try them both out and see if it helps. I'm hoping that she'll be able to sleep better at night without all the coughing.

Here's the good news.... Lily is 2 1/2 (really more like 2 3/4) and weighs 28 pounds. This puts her in the 30th percentile!!! Fantastic for a kid who 6 months ago was barely in the 7th percent. Maybe all that Lily-butter that she eats really does have calories in it.

Soup for Santa

2008-12-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

No photos today folks, you've got to use your imagination.

Last night as the girls and I were driving home from the grocery store (Yes, I again took my hungry children to the grocery store at 6pm. Will I never learn?) I asked Addie if she would like to leave cookies and milk out for Santa on Christmas Eve. I got a rather noncommittal answer from the back seat.

"Addie, do you think Santa would like cookies and milk (soy of course, I hear Santa is lactose intolerant) when he comes to our house?"

"No, he'd like water." Addie told me.

"Oh, so it should be water and cookies?"

"No. Water and soup and crackers. And toast." She was so confident about the way she said this. Perhaps Santa would like some soup to warm himself up with by the time he gets to our house.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2008-12-23T09:58:00.001-08:00

He's making a list, checkin' it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice

Santa Claus is coming to town!

And guess who is so excited she can barely sleep? We turned her crib into a daybed this weekend hoping that it would help Lily sleep in her own bed instead of the "BIG bed" guest bed in her room. It certainly has done the trick so far. Lily loves having her own little nest. She piles on all her animals and her turtle night light, then snuggles up in her blankets.

In case you were wondering where Lily gets the crazy grin from.

We had a little preview of Christmas this last weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came up to give the girls their presents early. Lily loved the artist smock she got, and all the great Play-Doh stuff to go with it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

School Sing a Long

2008-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

Addie's 4-K classroom had a sing-a-long last week. All the families were invited into the classroom. Since I was just there last week to help the kids make Monkey Bread, most of the kids remembered me. It was so fun to see all the kids in their Santa hats! It was also really nice to meet some of the other parents. I know 2 of them from different things, one was Addie's daycare teacher when she was a baby - and Addie was actually in her wedding! If we choose to go to the public school next year, Addie and this little boy will be in the same class. The other mom I know from work (I cannot remember where she works though), she asked if Addie could come over some day after school for a playdate. It would be her very first playdate without Mommy. Yikes!

The kids sang several songs for us and got to play their instruments. The instruments were definitely the bigger hit. The kids loved the shakers and jingle bells! So much so that they sometimes forgot to sing the words because they were too busy shaking.

Addie says, "Ms. Beth ROCKS!"

The best part of the program? Decorating cookies!! I couldn't believe how much sprinkles and M&M's went on these cookies. Addie decided she needed to make a cookie for herself, one for Daddy because he couldn't make it and one for Lily.

In Defense of My Homeland

2008-12-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here pondering my next blog entry, wondering if shivering counts as an aerobic activity when I read the comments from my previous post.

Ouch, accused of switching my allegience to a crummy purple and gold bunch of degenerate whiners. Shall we discuss the Love Boat incident? Perhaps not on a blog about my children.

No, my children's coats have nothing to do with the allegiance towards any particular football team. It's really hard to find green coats for girls. Plus, my girly-girls would probably revolt at anything that is not pink or purple. Lily's coat is a hand-me-down from her cousin (one that Addie barely wore) and Addie's happened to be a good sale. I figured the purple wouldn't look as dirty as fast as a light pink would.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful....

2008-12-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

What does any sane Northwoods family do when they're in the middle of a blizzard?
Bundle up the kids and go play outside of course!!

We got 9" of snow yesterday and winds up to 58 mph. Adam had to go outside to get a jump on the shoveling and snowblowing and the girls needed to blow off a little steam. We quickly found out that the snow pants that Lily used last year are much too short for her. Her other snow pants were at Oma's so she didn't last very long. I took her in to get some wool socks and legwarmers to pull over her snowpants to keep her lower legs warm. By the time we got outside again, Adam and Addie had walked over to our elderly neighbor's house to see how they were faring.
The girls went for a quick sled ride around the yard.

When Adam and Addie got back from visiting the neighbor's, they made a snow cave. Actually, I'm told that it is a snow "castle." They also made a little snowgirl to guard the castle. Addie had a great time playing with Daddy outside.

Unfortunately the temperature has dropped to the negative numbers, so we won't be able to play outside until the weather improves.

C is for Cookie...

2008-12-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

"C is for Cookie, that's good enough to eat. Cookie Cookie Cookie starts with C. " I was a big Cookie Monster fan as a kid. As an adult, I've rarely met a cookie that I didn't like. My kids seem to be along the same lines, especially Lily. That girl has a sweet tooth that just won't quit! When it came to cookie baking last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Dude's she wanted to be involved in all of it. As for Addie, she seems to be more of a Frosting kid.

We made 7 or 8 different types of cookies on Saturday. It was pretty much a marathon day for Auntie, Momma and Grandma. Addie and Lily got to be stirrers, rollers and decorators.

Lily loved decorating the Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies. It was tough convincing both girls that they couldn't lick their fingers as they went though. Afterwards, I let them lick the butter knives as a treat. (Boy that makes me sound like a horrible mom, licking knives! Next my children will be sword swollowers!)

Cookie Making is hard work!! Let's take a nap.

A chocolate star photo out take.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2008-12-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

He knows if you've been naughty,

he knows if you've been nice.

He knows if you've been bad or good,

so be good for goodness sake.

Despite a lot of hyping, Lily has not bought into the "Santa is a good guy" spiel this year. Oma brought the girls to see Santa last week and Lily was terrified. She cried and reached for Oma. Addie did fantastic, telling Santa that she wanted a Cupcake Maker. (It's a good thing that Momma is on a first name basis with Santa because I'm putting the nix on that one).

Mom, Auntie Rene and I took the girls to a different Santa over the weekend and Lily did better with that. She had to psych herself up a little about the visit. "I not afraid. I a big girl." Although Lily really didn't want to touch Santa (her arm wouldn't even rest on his) she did tell him she wanted paint for Christmas. Addie's sticking to her guns and saying she wants a Cupcake Maker and Peek-a-boo Dolls.

Mother of the Year Award

2008-12-03T09:20:00.001-08:00

Apparently I can kiss the Mother of the Year award goodbye. Yesterday Addie slept late (she stayed up too late the night before begging me for "one more story.") when I went into her room to wake her up and get her ready for school, she definitely was not ready to wake up. Adam had worked into the wee hours of the morning, so I needed to get both girls up, get them dressed and get them out the door to Oma's in time for Addie to catch the bus and me to get to work on time.

In the process of getting Addie dressed (imagine a 38 lb wet noodle getting dressed), Addie informed me that she was "going away."

"Oh really, where are you going to?"

"The mountains where I will stay and sleep outside," Addie replied. Apparently the realities of the mountains in December mean nothing to a 4 year old.

"And what will you eat?"

Without skipping a beat, Addie answered, "Oh, you'll bring me my lunch. And my supper."

So basically, I should go away but not too far away. Is this a harbinger of what will happen in 10 years when we go shopping together. "Mom, don't walk next to me, someone will think we're together."

Addie then proceeded to throw herself (fully dressed) onto the couch and cry until I picked her up and carried her to the car. Where Lily then decided that she too needed to cry.

Bummer

2008-12-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Not a deer to be seen in the woods all weekend... but Sunday morning this doe showed up to eat the apples off our neighbor's tree. Hopefully Adam will have some luck this weekend in the woods.

Dear Santa,

2008-12-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

I've been very good this year. I eat my vegetables and fruit (sometimes the meat, depending on how good it is) and only wander away from the table a few times during the course of a meal.

I've been very nice to my sister (despite what you might have heard). I give her hugs and kisses every time after I pull her hair. I also try very hard to share my toys.

I've been looking at the sales and I've decided what it is that I would like you to bring me for Christmas. It's a hard job to look through all the inserts in the Thanksgiving day paper to find just what you want. It takes preserverance and patience. Mommy says I have the first in spades but not so much the second.

I'd like THAT. It's a baby doll with a changing table, cradle and car seat. Please Santa, if you bring it for me I promise I will go to bed without much of a fight every night.

Love,

Lily

PS- Could you bring something for my big sister too?

Back At It

2008-11-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

The Castle Garden

We went back to the Children's Museum this weekend. I should have known it was going to be a rocky day when Addie woke up cranky. However, there was a storyteller at the museum and I thought the girls would really like it. She was a great storyteller, very animated and fun to watch. Lily was enthralled! Addie on the other hand, got a little bored. She wanted to go find all of her friends. Unfortunately, despite the abundance of people under the age of 5 there, Addie didn't know anyone.

So we headed downstairs to check out the museum again. Things went OK in the castle. I did have to stop Addie from taking away a toy that a younger kid was playing with. I got "the Look" from a couple of other moms, so she obviously was being bossy in the kitchen. I probably deserved the look since I was sitting on one of the benches knitting while the girls were playing. It was a centrally located spot and I could see them at all times.

Lily crawling through the tunnel in the tree. See, she's not afraid!

The girls decided to go upstairs to check out the campsite. They had a great time there. Right up until Addie decided that she wanted to go back downstairs, "to look for her friends." Unfortunately because the Children's Museum was so busy, I didn't want the girls on 2 different levels where I couldn't watch both of them at the same time. Unfortunately, it was also lunch time and everyone in my house gets a little cranky when they're hungry. So

Lily practices being a Chicken Farmer.

She loves the chicken puppet at the museum.

Addie completely melted down when I told her that if she wasn't going to stay with Lily and I, then it was time to go home. I had to put her jacket on her while she kicked and screamed and threw the mother of all temper tantrums. It was lovely. It made me feel like I was the worst, meanest, most terrible Mommy in the whole world. But I still made them leave.

Once we got home and everyone was fed and naps were taken, the mood improved dramatically. It improved even more dramatically after the girls were in bed that night. I drank a beer and watched a movie that I would never be able to watch with the girls awake (Monguls) and knitted. Lots of knitting to soothe the Mommy spirit.

It's Here!

2008-11-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

I feel like such a grown up! I bought my very first couch this week. It's our first piece of new furniture since we moved into our house and bought a bed 8 years ago.

It's just a nice simple couch. Nothing fancy. Not too flashy. I had to be in this particular furniture store several times over the last few weeks and each time I was drawn to this couch. When the price dropped, I knew it wouldn't last long. Probably the best, most empowering feeling is that I bought it with my own checking account.

It feels good to be an adult!

What I didn't realize when I bought it was how big it would look in our house! It dwarfs the other furniture. In fact, it downright crowds it out. I'm not sure how we're going to rearrange things, but it's clear that something will need to be done.

Be safe, have fun.

2008-11-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

This weekend is the opener of Deer Hunting in Wisconsin. It's a state holiday at our house and in many houses near us. In the spirit of the season, I encourage you to read this article.

To anyone who is hunting,

Be Safe. Have Fun. And Bring Home a Big One.

Children's Museum

2008-11-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

We finally made it to the local Children's Museum. Our friends have been telling us for a long time that we needed to go. Another friend was having their birthday party there, so we finally went. It was a huge hit with the girls. The main part of the museum is set up as a castle.

There were costumes to try on. (I swear I did not pose Addie like this, she did it all on her own. I have witnesses!)

There was a dragon to wake.

There were horses to shoe, meals to make in the medieval kitchen, and something that we called the Medieval Dance Dance Revolution.

There was a garden to plant and vegetables from. Lily's favorite part was the "Big Tree" - it was a spiral staircase and tunnel hidden within a big tree. She loved going into the tunnel. Every time she would come out saying, "I not scared. It not scary. The big tree not scary." The entire time she was holding a big chicken puppet like it was her lifeline.

Upstairs was a construction zone and a camp site complete with a miniature row boat to fish from. Addie and her friend Hanna disappeared for quite a while. When I found them, they were the only kids at the campsite, happily playing in the rowboat.

After cake and snacks, I took the girls to Cub Foods for groceries. I swear they ate half a bag of grapes (along with the free apple) and then tormented each other through half the store. Yes, my kids were the ones screaming at dinner time on Sunday night in Cub Foods. I hope you weren't there at the same time as us. The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home and pretty much crashed on the couch afterwards.

Lights Out

2008-11-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

We had a power outage this week. We had just gotten home from swimming when the power went out. The girls were unsure about whether or not this was a good thing. Adam thought it was great, he decided this was going to be the official start to Pioneer Night at our house.

(Pioneer Night is Adam's idea of how to save on electricity. We turn off all the appliances, lights and junk for one night a month. That night we use candles and cook out on the grill. We can play board games or read or tell stories, anything that doesn't take electricity.)

Addie, The Dramatic One, decided that she was afraid of the dark. She really didn't think too highly of Pioneer Night.

Gather 'round the candlefire girls and we'll tell you a story. In order to distract the girls, Adam started telling the girls about the Great Pumpkin that lives in the mountains. The story featured two girls (a big sister and a leedle sister) and their mommy and daddy. The family went up into the woods and set up camp on the edge of a pumpkin field. The Mommy made a delicious dinner of pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin pie. The girls then cuddle up in their sleeping bags and go to sleep. During the night, the Great Pumpkin comes to the family and shares his secrets for growing big pumpkins. He gives the girls seeds which they bring home and plant. The girls are then able to share pumpkins with everyone they know.

Lily is on the edge of her seat listening to the story.

Daddy Jobs

2008-11-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

In our house, there are certain jobs that are "Daddy Jobs" and certain jobs that are "Mommy Jobs." Anything not specified is a shared responsibility and can be done by anyone in the household. Mommy is in charge of cooking, most any thing to do with the computer and is definitely the chief purchasing officer for the household. Daddy is in charge of fixing things and carving pumpkins.
It's not that I don't like carving pumpkins, it's just that it's not my favorite activity. I either try to do damage control (putting down newspapers, cleaning the pumpkin guts that get flung everywhere, cleaning off hands and faces, etc.) or I just try to get out of the way. Adam loves pumpkin carving.

Lily loves pumpkin carving. She likes separating out the guts from the pumpkin seeds. She was the best little seed picker I have ever seen. She wasn't fast, but she was accurate. There is such determination on her face!

Addie is very proud of her littlest pumpkin. This is one that was grown in our own garden (One of 4). Addie got to draw out her pumpkin face with magic marker this year for Daddy to carve. She also tried giving inspiration to me as I half-heartedly carved ears out using a carving tool. We tried to make a pretty sparkly pumpkin with jewels in it, but I was having trouble getting the jewels to stick.

Adam finished up with the girls that night, then came back for more the next morning. He carved a "fairy" pumpkin complete with flowers and one little fairy.

What a Long Strange Week

2008-11-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

Is the week over yet?

First, I had a sales crisis at work. I sold something, was told I couldn't sell that the way it was done and since the business didn't have the budget to do a larger number of inserts, lost the sale. Then I was told I could sell it that way after all. It's my largest sale at this company so far.

Then, the election. Will it have ramifications for Adam's job? Probably. Will it have ramifications for mine? Most definitely. I'm quietly freaking out.

I also modelled in my first ad this week. I was walking out of the office when 2 of our artists asked me to put on some ski clothes. I was in a suit at the time and I questioned whether they really wanted me to be wearing ski clothes with a button down shirt. "Oh, no problem. Everything will be cropped out except the featured clothes." So my disembodied legs and body are in an ad.

And now, I get a call from my Dad saying that someone at my alma mater wants to use an essay that I wrote in 1998 in an online publication. I have no idea what this essay was about other than it was a pedigogical essay. It's very weird. It's an essay that I wrote as part of a class to become a tutor in the tutoring center. I'm fairly certain that it was a benign essay, but I'd sure like to read it before I give my permission for them to publish it. I'll throw up a link if I decide to have it published.

On Halloween Night

2008-11-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

When one Fairy meets

One Princess to go trick or treating,

There are two Trick or Treaters in the dark on Halloween night.

When two trick or treaters meet one tall Prince, there are three trick or treaters in the dark on Halloween night.

When three trick or treaters meet one Mummy, there are four trick or treaters with sugar rushes in the dark on Halloween night.

The girls came away with quite a haul of candy even though we only went to houses on our block. A good time was had by all.

Part Human, Part Fish

2008-10-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

The itty bitty mini Volcano slide.

Addie has informed me that she is a mermaid. "I'm part human and part fish. I'm a mermaid." After spending several days in the Dells, I believe it! Adam and his parents took the girls down to Wisconsin Dells last Friday night. I joined them on Sunday after a fun scrapbooking weekend. When I got there the girls had spent a good part of every day at a waterpark with their cousins.

That didn't stop them from wanting more!

Addie near the Wave Pool

On Monday morning both girls woke up asking if they could go to the pool. We headed back over in the afternoon and the girls had a blast. They played on the mini slides, rode jet skis (pretend ones) that shot water out (Daddy makes the best target!!) and played in the wave pool.

The waterpark was huge. It had 4 big rooms, each with different themes and things to do. We didn't really go down any of the big slides, although Adam did take Addie down the (semi) Lazy River. Every so often we would have to let Lily dangle her toes in the family hot tub because her lips would start turning blue. The family hot tub is meant for children older than 6, but I figured just having Lily's feet in the water wouldn't raise her temperature too high.

Lily's Cold Face - "I Cold. Brrr...."

Everyone had a great time, but it's nice to be home.

Bad Momma, No Pictures

2008-10-30T14:44:00.001-07:00

I am a bad Momma. I'm sure some day my children will be in therapy because of it. However, hopefully they will go to a therapist who is a mother herself. That therapist will say something to the effect of, "But aren't there some nice things your mother did for you?" My children will then tell about the time that their mother hosted a Halloween costume party for 9 children, 5 moms and 1 dad (2 dads if you count the dad that showed up late).

Even though there is no photographic evidence, we had a wild time last night at our house. All the usual suspects were there, Elmo (2 of them!), Snuffleufagus, Spiderman, The Little Mermaid (2 of them!), Snow White, and Mariposa were all there. There was also a cow that was missing her costume. The kids, as usual, all played great together. It was that happy fun chaos where the moms all chip in to watch everyone else's kids at the same time that they are catching up with each other's lives.

The only part I regret is that I didn't get a group photo that would someday be in the graduation slideshow.

You Know You're Tired When...

2008-10-20T07:59:00.001-07:00

As an adult, there are days when I would give almost anything to nap. I feel like I live for my coffee in the morning. But when you're little it seems like you'll do anything to fight off sleep. Addie plays harder than ever when she's tired. She'll start running around, spinning circles and basically get all crazy. Lily on the other hand will lay down but will thrash and twist and turn trying to find the right spot. Then, her fingers find their way up to her eyes where she'll press on her eyes or pull the lids down. Anything to keep from falling asleep. Each girl has to have their special thing to snuggle with. Lily needs her "Ellfant" and "bott" while Addie needs Strawberry Shortcake (and sometimes her new Curious George puppy.) If they don't have their particular routine, bedtime is difficult.

When sleep comes, it comes hard and fast to these two.

How tired do you have to be to sleep with your head bent like that?

Into the Woods

2008-10-17T08:57:00.001-07:00

We had a busy day on Sunday. We started off going to the Homeplace to work on a tree stand for Dad. Addie and Lily were interested in everything in the woods, including something I suspected at the time was poison ivy. When your child picks up a leaf and immediately says, "my fingers are itchy," you really start to get paranoid! The girls had a great time looking around in the woods though.

After the Homeplace, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house for lunch. My Grandma is a fantastic cook and she out did herself on this one. Two of my great-aunts were also there, one was visiting from Colorado so it was great to see her. The girls were very entertaining, Addie told Louise and Dony all about school.

After lunch we headed to the spot where Adam always hunts to drop off apples for the deer. Despite it being after nap time and both girls being exhausted, they had to walk with us to check out the stands.

Lily insisted on climbing over that log all by herself! She told me, "I a big girl, I do it myself."

Four Little Goblins

2008-10-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, four little goblins went walking at the zoo. See The Kazel Imagination for more photos and a far better description. :)

Three of the goblins had treat bags. The littlest goblin was too little. She got to share with her Mommy and Superman.

Along the way the goblins got to see otters, tigers and polar bears - Oh My! The polar bear even put on a show for the goblins. He dove and waved and generally had a great time showing off for the kids.

This little goblin kept up with the big kids, occasionally catching a ride with Mommy. She loved going to each booth and saying in her tiniest voice, "Twick or Tweat," and "Tank You."

The highlight for the Goblin's Mommies was the Caribou Coffee booth. They were giving away free cups of coffee and for the Trick or Treaters, Caribou Coffee breakfast bars. This Mommy questions the intelligence of a company that gives Mocha flavored breakfast bars to preschoolers, but they were confiscated and redirected to the Mommy portion of the pantry. The caribou was a huge hit with my goblins... they each had to wave to the caribou and then give it a big hug.

Have you ever seen such a cute little cow?

Buh-Bye animals! We'll see you next time!

For Hire

2008-10-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to say it, because really, I'm not shy. My kids would make great flower girls. If anyone would like to use the girls in their wedding, they would be available. Addie even has prior experience as a flower girl. She was a flower girl at age 2, in someones wedding that we barely knew! Addie is not shy and will follow anyone down the aisle. Lily will follow her sister almost anywhere so she's a pretty good bet as well.

How could you not want that face in your wedding photos?

The girls have even been practicing their dancing skills. They slow dance with Daddy (sometimes Momma, but only if Daddy is busy) and they can fast dance with the best of them. Honestly, you haven't seen dancing until you see Lily shaking her boot-tay. It's hysterical.

Addie and Lily go Ga-Ga over weddings. This weekend Adam and I put in the tape of our wedding; the girls were amazed that Momma was a BRIDE! There is something magical about the white dress and veil and little girls are certainly not immune to it. Every little girl dreams of being in a wedding. I know as you get older and all your friends are getting married that you get a little tired of going to all the weddings of your freshman roommate's sisters. However, think about the kids, think about your family that want to see you on this happy occasion.

Since 2 of our close relatives (each godparents of one of the girls) have eloped fairly recently, the girls haven't had a chance to be in a wedding. With this last one we're not even sure if they'll be having a reception to celebrate later. I know that this person has a niece and a nephew who could have been in the wedding but weren't also; but Lily is your Godchild, shouldn't that mean something?

Let us share in the joy of your wedding. And for God's sake, let my kids be part of it. :)

Where Aliens Go

2008-09-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Our conversation at dinner tonight went something like this.

"Momma, where do aliens live?"

"Outer Space. Lily, eat your meat"

"Momma, where aliens go when they're out ter? Why don't they stay here?"

"Good question."

SUPERSTAR!

2008-09-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

"Momma, I want to be a Rock Star. And a teacher, a mouse detective, ballerina, and a Barbie!"
And she's going to bring her Pokey Little Puppy with her all the time. Somehow, I think Addie just might do it.

School is going really well so far. We solved the breakfast dillemna. Addie wasn't hungry in the morning before going to school and food is not allowed on the school bus. I emailed her teacher and we decided to have Addie get breakfast at school every morning. The school district provides a (mostly) hot breakfast every morning free. Addie loves everything they've served so far, I think she really likes picking out what she gets to eat from the line. So far the other big hits of being in 4 Year Old Kindergarten seem to be that there are numbers on the wall and that they sometimes get to play Freeze Dance.

Darla & Co.

2008-09-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with Darla and Thomas at the cabin this last weekend. It was good to get away and just have time to hang out. In fact, Grandma and Grandpa even took the girls so that I could theoretically sleep in for my birthday! The weather was crummy but the kids didn't seem to mind.

As usual, the cake and the present wrapping/unwrapping were the biggest hits with the girls. The girls around presents makes sharks in a feeding frenzy look calm and in control. In fact, at one point, the wrapping paper was flying so fast that I thought Adam had given yarn to Darla for her birthday. Um, no. That was to me from Darla. :) That makes a lot more sense!

The only downside to the weekend was that I got sick. There's something nasty going around. I've been running a fever for 5 days and have a cough that just won't quit and a tight chest. It's miserable being sick when you're supposed to be having fun. Last night Lily snuggled up in my lap and said, "you sick Momma?" Yes, honey, I'm sick. A couple of minutes later she said, "You still sick Momma?" Yes, I'm still sick. "Daddy fix you. Daddy is de best Daddy in the whole world and he can fix anyting. Daddy fix you so you no sick." What a sweetie she is!

Four Year Old Kindergarten Here We Come!

2008-09-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

This week was the start of 4K (4 year old kindergarten) for Addie. 4K is a Wisconsin preschool program. One of the most exciting parts for Addie is that because she is attending one of the public schools, she gets to ride the bus. It was traumatic for Momma and Daddy but very exciting for Addie. She kept saying, "I'm so excited!" Unfortunately we didn't think much about the camera the night before other than to say that we needed to take some pictures of her that morning. In a series of small disasters, none of our cameras was working that day. Instead, Adam had to take the pictures with his cell phone.

Lily was upset that Addie got to go to school but she didn't. Of course, Lily was also upset that Momma went to work right away in the morning instead of snuggling. Then, Lily was upset because she accidentally got hit in the head with a camera. It was a rough day to be Lily!!

Then it was a mad dash for the bus! (This photo brings back traumatic childhood memories of running for the bus)

There she is, off to her first day of 4 Year Old Kindergarten! She gets to ride a big yellow bus with just the 4 year olds. They have 5 point harnesses for each kid which makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing. I'm a little worried because we don't have the communication with the teacher that I am used to getting from daycare, but Addie is all smiles when she comes home. It sounds like they have a great routine at school and Addie is enjoying herself. The very first day she told me her teacher let her dance. I asked if the other kids danced. "No." I asked if the other kids were singing songs when she did this. "No. They just listen to the songs." Hmmm... was she dancing during quiet time? How did that all come about?

The only problem we're having is that Addie refuses to eat breakfast first thing in the morning. I get her up and get her dressed, but she needs to be at the corner waiting for the bus by 7:50. We tried sending food for her to eat on the bus, but the bus driver doesn't allow it. The big kids eat breakfast at school, but the 4 yr old program starts later so they don't eat breakfast there. By the time snack time rolls around, Addie is starved. I'm not sure what to do!

Lily is having the hardest time with all the changes. Between Addie going to school and Momma working full time, she's feeling left out. It's been a rough series of mornings around our house. I'm confident she'll get used to it, but I feel bad.

Random Sunday

2008-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

Tip: Oxi Clean and lots of elbow grease gets crayon off of wallpaper.

The Story: I was trying to impress upon my children the importance of Mommy being able to have a little privacy at some point in the day. After having slept in Lily's room for most of the night, then spending parts of the wee hours in Addie's room, I was pretty wiped out. I just needed to use the bathroom alone, without an audience. Both children took offense at this and proceded to throw temper tantrums. Addie got put in a time out in her room over this one as she was screaming red-faced and shaking her finger at me. Sorry kiddo, we don't talk to Momma that way. Somehow I managed to move Lily outside the room and have 3 seconds to myself. In that amount of time Lily took a red crayon and was creating a masterpiece on the wall in the hallway. Addie of course ratted her out and I was able to get there before it became an entire mural. Each child and I got a damp washcloth and started scrubbing the crayon off. No pictures, I was too annoyed to think of getting the camera. The Oxi Clean really saved the day... it made clean up a little bit easier. It still took a lot of elbow grease, but at least I wasn't smearing the crayon around once I used it.

********

I just discovered Living Crafts magazine at our Whole Foods Co-op. This issue is all about wool. There's some knitting but there's also wool felting (which anyone can do right off the bat - without special tools) and some neat projects with felt. I might try to make some felt crowns for Christmas for all the kids. Hand sewing is not my specialty, but these are so cute they are very tempting. It looks like everything in the magazine can be made by beginners or children of varying ages. In the issue I have, there are felted hedgehogs and a felted pumpkin that would be easy for the girls to help me with.

Happy Birthday Addie!

2008-09-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

We did the traditional birthday extravaganza again this year. I didn't actually do a head count, but we had somewhere close to 30 people come. It was a lot of fun for all of us. We ate (a lot) of corn on the cob, brats, hot dogs, fresh veggies straight from a local farm and my mom's garden, deviled eggs, chips and DF dip, fresh fruit salsa and of course, cake. My Mom came up and helped the day before the party so everything was done early and done smoothly. The kids played outside, picking apples and chasing each other around. I love summer birthdays because I don't have to do anything structured to keep people entertained. The parents hung out outside with the kids and the grandparents or older friends stayed inside where it was quieter. We even had fantastic weather this year - perfect 70's temps and sunny after a cold wet morning.

We went with a Barbie cake this year (instead of the almost identical Princess Cake that was last year's treat). Next year I'm hoping we can break the doll cycle. :) Maybe I can convince Lily to do a Strawberry Shortcake birthday or something like that. Addie loved it though - she thought the Barbie was beautiful!

Make a wish sweetie! I hope all your dreams come true - or at least most of them!

And yes, our friend AJ did eat 3 pieces of cake again this time around. That kid likes his cake! :) Although I have to say he wasn't as enthralled with the Barbie cake as he was with the bunny cake. He's such a cute kid - he had his first 2 pieces scarfed down so fast his mom didn't realize he was onto the 3rd until I gave her the heads up. Better watch out for him Dana, he's quick!

In case anyone cares, Kool-Aid Jammers are disgusting. I caved tonight when the girls were asking for juice boxes in the grocery store. Since the Jammers were on sale (the ones with only 2 g of sugar) I decided they wouldn't be too bad. Yuck. They have a very plasticy taste to them. I really don't know that the kids will even drink them.

Finding Nemo

2008-08-25T14:03:00.001-07:00

I promise that I will blog more about Addie's birthday and her party. It was a great time and I think everyone went home full and happy. We had hot dogs and brats, fresh veggies and dip made with Tofutti sour cream, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, potato salad, chips, and fruit salad. And cake. Lots of Barbie cake. As usual it was all Dairy Free. For now, if you want to hear more about it, you'll have to go to Dana's blog.

In a surprise move, Nemo (also called "Memo" by the younger members of the family) has come to live at our house. He is a beautiful red Beta. Some readers may remember that Nemo (of Finding Nemo fame) was trying to escape captivity. However, he seems to have landed in a nice little fish vase at our house. A little jealousy errupted over the ownership of Nemo (I said he belonged to no one but himself, Addie said he was her birthday present and Lily seemed to think that he should belong to her. After all, Addie got all these other cool presents, shouldn't Lily get something?) So Adam played peacekeeper and decided that we would take a family trip to the Wal of Mart. We found a nice little female fish to keep Nemo company. In keeping with the Finding Nemo theme, she was named Dory. Dory is a blue short finned Beta. However, because Beta's tend to be loners and because we don't really want little Dory's and Nemo's floating around, they are in separate vases.

Any bets on how long the fish will survive?

My Mommy Friends Are the Best

2008-08-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

We met a bunch of friends at a new park on Wednesday night and had a blast! There were 8 kids, 5 mom and 1 dad (yeah Adam!). These are mostly friends that Addie and Lily used to go to daycare with so they all get along wonderfully. The kids slip back into playing together like they just saw each other yesterday. This play structure is geared for kids of all ages, with 3 levels you can go up.
The climbing walls were a huge hit, especially with the boys. This little guy just kept going up the same wall, determined to get to the top all by himself. At the top, he'd turn and look at his mom to make sure she saw his accomplishment. I was pretty impressed!

Addie is being chased by a dinosaur, can you tell? The girls had a blast running around the structure, swinging on the swings and going down the slide. I heard a lot of, "Addie's Mom, there's a dinosaur coming!"

When someone asked me if I was worried that Lily was playing on the first rung of this ladder, I said no way. She can never climb up that thing, she's too little. She's barely 24 lbs and she's still in 18 month clothes, she's too little for that. Well she showed me! She climbed all the way up! Over and over and over! At the top where the ladder starts to flatten out, Lily would be saying, "I not scared. I not scared. I a liddle bit scared." It was so cute to see the look of determination on her face. She *has* to keep up with the big kids. Nothing will stop her from going down the scariest slide or doing anything that the big kids do.

Addie shows off her climbing skills. Addie on the other hand, likes a spotter whenever she does something for the first time. She wants to see her friends do it first and wants to know that there is a Momma at the bottom to catch her.

It's great to watch the kids play and fun to catch up with the moms. Next time - pool party for the moms at our house. We'll fill up the kiddie pool, stick our feet in and drink Margaritas. Just name the time ladies. :)