For Thought...

Completely not kid related...

Yellow Camero

By popular demand, here is a photo of the girls as they opened their yellow camero. Bare in mind that this vehicle has a maximum speed of 5mph, has seatbelts, and sports a fully working radio... as requested from Santa. In addition, it drives in reverse and can run an MP3 player as well.

S spent most of her driving time worried about the seat belt and offering a princess wave to neighbors.

A, on the other hand, immediately sat in the gangster slouch, rested her left elbow on the top of the door, and showed her approval of the music choice by her very slight rhythmic head bob. I have no idea where my 2 year old picked up such "hip" behavior.

The Sewing Machine Remains Out

And after the Halloween costumes, this year I actually made little valences for the dinning room. I wanted them done for Thanksgiving... 2009. At least I'm only one year late.

More Halloween Photos

I just have to post a couple more photos of my creative creatures. These photos are from Halloween Day... a day spent almost entirely in costume.

As you can see, the blue bird has her face paint on for the big day. She loved her wings most of all, though, and insisted on putting them on and "tweeting" loudly... even while enjoying a very nice Sunday brunch at Mario's. The nest isn't featured very well in this photo, but be assured it is covered in leaves and she carefully tended to 6 eggs that day.

The mean witch is finally wearing her hat and a smile. Although she never warmed up to the hat, she did love her dress and wore it all day at school on Friday. She even liked the "sleeves" that added a little sparkle (and an extra layer of warmth) to her arms.

I was just glad to see to see them both enjoying this year's little fantasy.

This last photo is a little deceptive. After all, while both kids crashed after the morning of Halloween fun, both were also up very late that night. I sat beside A's bed (as is my routine) and she lay there singing "5 Little Pumpkins on a Gate" over and over until 10:30 at night.

(In case you've never been introduced, A is laying next to "Kissy" her favorite doll and probably her favorite toy).

Zoo Boo Fun

The local Zoo always hosts a Halloween trick-or-treating event.

For A, it was her first time out in her costume. The hat is missing, but she is a "mean witch." Sometimes she varies the costume by declaring herself a "scary witch" but normally it is a mean witch. Fortunately for me, she is still only 2 and I was able to adorn her "mean" costume with lots of little hearts.Her sister was a little more challenging. For a long time, she wanted to be a mailbox. As she went from house to house, she would open up the door and ask for the candy to be "mailed." Then she'd raise the flag on the side of the box and with a quick "thank-you" be off.

At the last second, though, she made a switch-a-roo on me. She decided that now she wants to be an endangered blue bird. Most importantly, she wants to be a mommy bird with a nest so that when she sits down she is sitting on her eggs. Here you can see her long tail feathers, sparkling wings, and if you look carefully you can see the brown tutu covered in leaves, twigs, and (of course) her eggs.

Apple Cider

These photos show my two girls as they enjoy the "fruits" of the season. We've already finished 3 gallons of apple cider this year.. and the fall started just last week!

Here are a couple of photos of the girls as we try a little taste testing exercise. Each was asked to decide which was better; hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick or cold apple cider with a piece of ice. They love their little 'tea' cups (colorful and perfect for tea, hot cocoa, or cider). The cinnamon sticks were also a huge hit. I think both caused the hot apple cider to win out in the end.

Reintroduction Part 1: School

Long time no see!

So here is a recent (actually from this month) photo of the whole family! We had to pose for photos for the girls new rooms.S is now in Rainbow Room; a preschool room. Her school has 3-5 preschool rooms (depending on the number and age of the kids) and divide the kids up mostly by age. She was in Blue Room last year. Blue Room was filled with those kids whose birthdays were borderline as to when they would start Kindergarten. In other words, half of her previous classmates started K 3 weeks ago while the other half moved to Rainbow Room with her.

The downside is that 3 of her 4 closest friends were in the older group. Now S is focusing on developing new relationships with new friends and in a new room. It was a challenging first 2 weeks, but S is very predictable. This was week 3 and suddenly everything went smoothly. Drop-offs are pretty quick, pick-ups are filled with lots of excitement, and she is talking about what she did with classmates again.

A also changed rooms, but her change was much less dramatic. Their school practices "continuity of care" (which basically means the teachers progress along with their pupils from the infant room all the way through toddlers until the kids graduate into the preschool program). A simply moved from Toddler-1 to Yellow Room. Her friends came with her; her teachers came with her; and since Yellow is her favorite color (and the room is bigger with more windows) she likes the room better. She was an easy drop-off since day 1.

Just Couldn't Help It

This photo is one of my favorites. To me, it highlights the differences between my two girls, and yet how they both are.
Alaura loves babys, dolls, and playing. Sofia loves animals and nurturing. Alaura knows what she wants and demands it. Sofia has an incredible imagination and can bring everyone along in a story.

And yet they both love being around friends and love spending time with people and are a joy.

Templeton & Charlotte

S loves her new pets. Above is S with Charlotte. Below is all of us girls with Templeton. And for the record, the house is now even... 3 girls and 3 boys.

Merry Christmas Everyone

We all hope everyone enjoyed a very wonderful day.

Not Even a Mouse (but maybe a rat?)

The big Christmas gift this year is going to be a pet. Yes, no kidding, I agreed to get a pet.

I'm surprised by how excited I am about it. I found a breeder online and had to apply to adopt a pair of them, and was quite taken aback by how thrilled I was when I was approved for the adoption.

We just picked up the cage and some bedding. We ordered food from the breeder (for consistency). I think we're ready.

This morning, we added Timeless Romance and Carry That Weight to our family.

Yes, they are rats.

The first thing I will be working on is teaching them to come to their names and training them to use a litter box. We'll see how good I am at it.

Bookish

Here it is after Thanksgiving, but I don't have the festive photos uploaded yet so instead I'm going to post a few photos from over the summer, all exhibiting a rather literary theme.

These girls love to read. S still has us read her the same book over and over until she has the entire story memorized. At the time, we always found this rather humorous, and then annoying. Now we are starting to see the benefits. She can now recount entire books for her sister, keeping them both entertained without our involvement.

Much of this is due to M's evening routine. He ensures that the girls are read to each night. More books and more stories are a reward for helpfulness and good behavior.

S's favorite is a book about dinosaurs while A prefers Tumble Bumble.

I do more story telling. It all started when on the way to school I told them the story of Stone Soup. Shortly thereafter, S asked me to "tell me another story." While making beds I recount the story of the three little pigs. While folding laundry I describe what I can remember of the story of Cinderella.

Unfortunately, I'm also running out of stories. I'd like to continue telling stories that I can turn into a lesson of some sort. Aesop's tales seem a natural fit, but I don't know many of them.

Someone from work suggested that I could also tell stories from the ancient Greeks and Romans. With that in mind, I'm sure there are innumerable ancient stories I could retell. How the world resides on the back of a turtle or how the zebra got his stripes. Now I just have to find the time to read and refresh my memory.

Halloween - a Spooky Return

What better time to return to the blogosphere than for Halloween. Among the spooks and zombies; among the princesses and heros; my two girls wandered as a kitty cat and a lady bug.

S picked out her costume herself. She even picked out the fabric. I picked out the sewing machine and had a ball putting it all together. If you look closely at the belly and the inside of the ears, you can see stitching in the shape of butterflies (S chose the stitching once I decided that I had to experiment with some of the embroidery capabilities of the machine).

On the other hand, A had no say about her costume. In fact, it took some distraction to keep her from ripping off the wings and pulling on the anteni, but for the most part the costumes stayed on.

Both girls (and mom and dad) all had a fantastic time going house to house.

Like Sister Like Sister

Let's see, there is so much to say and I can't think of anything. Needless to say, the girls are both growing quickly. A loves imitating her sister and S loves bossing the younger around. Both will be moving into new rooms at the daycare on Tuesday which will bring about a number of changes for them.

I'm loving being a mom. At any moment, I have two beautiful children who want nothing less than to spend as much time as possible with me.

Quiet Summer

Actually, it is anything but a quiet summer. Between a first birthday, canoeing up the creek, visiting numerous friends, and swimming as often as possible the entire family is very busy.

But I hope to get back to blogging regularly this month.

Happy Family

A is trying to walk on her own. With all the recent gardening activities, S has decided that being a horticulturist is even better than being a zoo keeper. M and W are just enjoying being parents to two beautiful girls.

Mother's Day Musings

Yesterday prompted me to continue thinking about motherhood. I was up for over an hour and still didn't eat any breakfast. I was hungry, tired, and fighting back a little crankiness.

I poured S some Chex for breakfast when she decided she wanted some Cheerios too.

"Not in this bowl mommy!"

"Really? I can put them side by side and then you can eat them separately if you like."

"No. I need a different bowl."

So out comes a new bowl. Hay, I still don't have one bowl of cereal, let alone two different of two different kinds. "This one isn't blue!!" (yes, the obsession with that color continues).

"You're right, but purple is a mix of blue and red." Counter block.

"Pour some more."

"Finish that and you can have some more." Can I please now eat something myself??

A starts asking to nurse. I sit down at the table by S and start to feed A figuring I can wait another 10 minutes. After all, everyone seems to be content and I'd like to enjoy the moment.

Until I look over and see S pouring the complete contents of her purple cereal bowl directly on top of her blue cereal bowl. Cheerios now blanket the Chex and I close my eyes, hold my breath for a moment, and suppress the internal scream.

Logically, I recognize that I'm over reacting and that one small, but unnecessary, request is not worth the drama... but it was a straw on that camel.

Which brings me to my musing...

I look at my beautiful daughters and they are oblivious to so much. I explain what I can and simplify a lot and laugh as I think about all that they think they know. What do I do now that my mom watches and laughs at? What does she try to explain to me but I can't yet grasp? What does she watch and simply think, "someday she'll realize..."

Really, what is the difference between 3, 13, and 30?

Thank-you mom for every time you stifled your own needs and took care of me first.

A Look-Alike Poll

I just added a poll (to the top right of the blog). Please vote as to whether you think the sisters look alike or look different (and to clarify, they can look different and yet still look like sisters). I keep changing my mind each time I look at the photos and I'm curious to know what others think.

I added a new pair of photos. S is to the right while A is below. The other posts with pairs of photos are from April 3rd and Aug 12, 2008

Please vote. This should be fun.

Family Challenges

So, I should probably provide some more down-to-earth perspective on our happy home. Alaura is crawling and now M and I are working on determining how best to explain that although many of these toys are S's, A can play with them too.

Right now my approach is that most things that belong to anyone in the family may belong to one person, but families share things. After all, that is "dad's chair" at the dinning room table but we can all use it if we want. That is "mom's colored pencils" but we can all color with them. And those are "Sofia's toys" but we can all take turns. There are a few things that each person has the final say over (mom's jewelry box, dad's pocket knife, and some special toys), but most things are shared.

Yeah right.

If anyone has any good suggestions or better approaches, please let me know.

Photo Guessing Game

Guess who...Give up?

The top is S while the bottom photo is W.

Scary.