Fall Fashion

We just finished up (I hope!) school shopping for the girls. Not a lot, just a supplement of t-shirts (to replace the ones they've stained/outgrown), a few pairs of shorts, the hard-to-find and total downer tote bags that are required instead of backpacks (there are NO pretty Tinkerbell/Princess/etc totes), and the SHOES. The shoes were the highlight of our (my) preparations. I've been wanting to get the girls these since I first saw their sparkly prettiness. We finally went and picked them out last night and they are just as fun as I had hoped! (I'm still trying to convince myself that Lil Jo and I don't need a pair!). They cost way more than I am usually willing to spend on shoes for feet that are constantly growing, but for a huge milestone like starting school (!!), I thought a little splurge was in order :)

Aren't they pretty!!!

Twice last night I had to catch myself as I was trying to push my likes and dislikes onto the girls' choices. I'm used to shopping for them without their input. But last night they got to pick their shoes and their totes (we found some decently pretty ones at Claire's). I really didn't want B. to pick the 'Princess Monkey' tote or A. to pick the shoes with the ugly (imo) unicorn on them. But, when I saw B. settling for, no, resigning herself to, the tote I was encouraging - just to make me happy - I decided it wasn't worth fighting over. She's a bit of a princess monkey herself anyway! A.'s shoes were a different sort of battle - she said she wanted the unicorns because her friends would love them. She's already SO concerned with what her friends will think. I'm still not sure if she got them because of her friends or because she liked them.

Less than a month to go.....

A Tradition of Torture.

The girls are finally old enough for me to 'play' with their hair. I also have the excuse of needing to keep it tied back for swimming. My husband is shocked by the screams of pain that come from the living room as I plait and/or ponytail three little heads of hair. In my defense, I do try to be gentle, but part of having long hair is having a tough head, right? And they do get the option of having short or long hair. They've been told, though, that if they have long hair they have to let mom 'do' it so it doesn't get all nasty.

A. is getting better about tolerating it - she gets angry at the pain while B. just sobs because she's so mistreated.

Regular french braids on A.

The entire process is very reminiscent of the hairdo torment I received from my mother. The french braid that went around my head like a crown (SO. MUCH. PAIN.)...and the public (equally painful) demonstrations that happened whenever random strangers asked her 'how'd you DO that??' Sometimes I can calm the girls as I pull with these stories of my own experiences with mother-inflicted pain :)

This experiment turned out a bit goofy. (Can you tell she's been crying??)

Back view of 'goofy-do'. Later on the back fell out so I turned the side braid into a bun - super- silly :)

I'm just now starting inverted french braids (my mom called them 'fishtails'). I am really enjoying having so much hair to practice with!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Dear Daddy,

We love you so much!!! We are so grateful for a Daddy that loves us so much and teaches us so many things! Our favorite time of day is when you come home, or maybe when we get to wrastle with you before bed, or when we get to 'help' you work in the garage or....I guess we love ALL times we get to be around you!

It's so cool to have a Daddy that will work hard for LOTS of evenings and weekends and even ON Father's Day building amazing things for our children's church. We will always remember the cool stages and awesome decorations. We're so proud that OUR Daddy is the one that made all that!!!

We couldn't ask for a better Daddy than you! Happy Father's Day!! Love, A. B. and Lil Jo!

Garden

During my childhood, my mom planted a garden any time she could find a patch dirt. We also had several summers of huge gardens out at my grandparents farm. So many happy memories are from sitting in the garden with either my grandma or my mom while they watered and weeded and listening to stories or playing pictionary in the dirt. As we grew older, my sister and I took over the farm garden (with help from my Dad), and we took our produce to town to sell. I'm sure we were hot and bored and cranky some (or a lot) of the time. But, I only remember it as fun.

Anyway, since being a 'grown-up', I've been wanting to start gardening again. I'd never had much success growing things on my own, but the cost of produce, my desire to find some productive hobbies, and my husband's amazing ability to build pretty much anything, brought about our family's first garden :) (The green been trellis has been expanded quite a bit since this picture):

We have herbs (basil, mint, chamomile, and the now-dead cilantro), strawberries, cucumbers, string beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, squash and zucchini. I feel very attached to all my little plants and get very agitated when they are not thriving. The onions and cilantro seem to be a failed attempt, and we've had some very strange results from our squash and zucchini experiment. We planted them in last summer's plastic pool...and as you can see in the picture - one plant took over. Who knew squash plants were territorial??

We've been enjoying lots of tomatoes and eagerly awaiting enough string beans to cook more than a bowl full (although the one bowl we did have was totally yummy!). I have no idea what all to do with the basil - so I've been just tossing it into to stuff randomly. I'm sure that there are a lot of great ways to use the mint, too, and I have a LOT of it, but I just look at it mostly.

Here's B with her sunflower plants. We planted them in with the banana plants we thought (incorrectly) we had killed this winter.

Yay garden!

Cuddle Buddies

In order to go to sleep at bedtime or naptime Lil Jo needs:
1)Baby Cinderella
2)Pink Doggie
3)Duck
4)Elephant ('elfant')
5)Frosty
6)Other baby
7)Seahorse

She will check to make sure all are accounted for and holler for whatever is missing.

She also has to have a drink, a kiss, her 'water' on (noisemaker), and 'blanket on me'.

Except for the seahorse and duck - this is an entirely new list of cuddle buddies than she had 6 months ago when they were all 'babies' (dolls).

I now have to go convince the girls to move their myriads of stuffed animals out of my exercise space :)

Worth It.

This weekend my world traveling sister visited with her kids. We all had a great time and I already miss my niece and nephew so much it hurts....but with all that comes the realization that I have a comparatively 'boring' life. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel bored....I just have not much to talk about that's not kid related. I definitely don't provide stimulating conversation. But, I have been questioning my chosen 'profession' less and less over the past year...feeling more confident in the decision....recognizing that what I do all day, while totally unglamorous, is still important.

And then this morning Daughter A came running into my room, jumped on the bed, snuggled up for a hug, and said, "Mama, do you know why I love you? Cause you're home all the time." :)

Here's a few pics from cousin time:

Survey Thingy

I was just thinking this morning that I haven't done one of those fun-to-me email/facebook type surveys in a long time. Then I re-ran across this post by a friend and decided to steal it :) (I'm distracting my mind from this afternoon's kindergarten sign-up!)

What time did you get up this morning?
6:35. Shocking, for a habitual post-8am riser, but I found some walking buddies and had to get a few loops done before Jer left for work. All that extra awake time is part of the reason for this survey - ha.

Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds - but I prefer colored stones like emerald, garnet, sapphire etc. Pearls are probably my LEAST favorite.

Last film you saw in the theatre?
'Alice in Wonderland'. I was so excited (Jer fell asleep), but it was not as good as it could have been...I like 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' a LOT better

Favorite TV Show?
I have a hard time picking so I'll give my top 5: 1)Glee, 2)The Office, 3)Parenthood, 4) The Good Wife, 5)Modern Family...and I'm very sad about the cancellation of 'Better Off Ted' and 'Scrubs'. I used to feel guilty about enjoying TV...but everyone needs ways to relax and that's mine, so there!

What do you usually have for breakfast?
I don't like breakfast and have just recently made an effort to eat some every day. Before it was just a highly-sugared cup of coffee or Earl Grey Tea. This week it's been one hard-boiled egg, a few slices of pepper jack cheese, and a hand-full of pretzels. I like to have a few tomatoes with that combo, too.

Favorite Clothing?
Jeans that fit well and are comfy (ie don't feel like they are squeezing me or about to bare my rear) with a t-shirt that hugs the right curves and hides the strange pattern that my children left on my stomach.

Anywhere in the world on vacation where would you pick?
For a relaxing vacation I would pick a tropical and uncrowded beach - the whole white sand/clear water thing. For a site-seeing sort of vacation I would LOVE to go to China...someday!

Where would you like to retire?
Jer and I have discussed two options: 1) Buy a really fancy RV and travel the country in style, 2) By a house in the north and one in the south and avoid extreme temperatures :) But, I imagine I will attempt to live as close to my children as they will let me!

What was your most recent memorable birthday?
The memorable in a bad way b-day was two years ago when I was stuck home with an infant and two-three year olds and then one of the three year olds wound up throwing-up all day. A good recent one was three years ago, my sis took me to a comedy club in town and then we hung out at her house afterwards. I like it when people will hang out with me :)

What are you going to do when you finish this?
Clean the kitchen/counters, then feed the kids, then go register two of the kids...

Are you a morning or a night person?
100% night owl. Although, I'm always a bit surprised how pleasant it is to be outdoors in the early morning....

What did you want to be when you were little?
First off a mom, then an accountant for Hershey in Hershey, PA in a purple house.

What was the last thing you ate?
see breakfast question above

Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Lady from church who is watching the girls for me this afternoon

Favorite soft drink?
Cherry coke. mmmm

Hair color?
Dark blondish

Summer or Winter?
Fall and spring! But I actually prefer the cold to the hot.

Chocolate or vanilla?
Chocolate...preferably dark.

Coffee or tea?
Either - so long as it's nice and sweet and has some creaminess added.

When was the last time you cried?
Don't know...

What did you do last night?
Watched kids at children's small group, watched Biggest Loser catchup with Jer, watched ANTM, showered and went to bed.

Positive or Negative?
I try to be positive and can usually see the positive in most situations...but will often fall into negativity without realizing it and have to pull myself back out!

A Few Firsts/New Accomplishments

A. conquered the monkey bars a week ago. All the way across all by herself - several times. They were some pretty hard ones, too! They were set up in a curve so some were farther apart than others. She was SO excited :) She then got to experience the beginnings of monkey bar blisters!

B. read a book all by herself!! She needed a bit of help on some of the sight words - but that's because the English language is totally dumb and almost none of the words follow the rules. They are all 'funny' or 'silly' words, as our reading book calls them. She was so excited to read that princesses love singing...she loves singing, too! (She sings almost non-stop).

Lil Jo's firsts have all been vocabulary expansions lately. She said her first 4 word sentence ('Mama, kiss you me.') and she has been stringing together more and more sentences since. I think there was even a 5 word-er, but I can't recall what it was.

The girls also got to play Mario Cart for the first time on Saturday. We were babysitting some for some friends at their house and they have the four player game. It was VERY entertaining watching two 5-year olds, a 6-year old, and a 3-year old race :) Daddy had a hard time watching instead of 'helping.'

We had our first Easter egg hunt at our new church. 20,000 eggs....needless to say all the kids filled their baskets with lots left over. Daddy said he saw A. going slowly through the field, picking up an egg in each hand, weighing the two against each other, then tossing the lighter egg over her shoulder. Fortunetly for me (and unfortunetly for Daddy and Jo) most of the eggs seem to have been filled with mini-pb cups, yum!

Of course, I forgot my camera for Easter/ Egg Hunt/Trip to the Beach, but we are very lucky to have friends who remember cameras and offer to take family pictures of us:Can you tell we don't take family pictures often? :)