Monday, February 28, 2011

How do I love thee

Today the girls brought home a project they made at preschool. It is a silver cupcake liner with a small "chocolate" in the middle. On the chocolate is written the question, "Why do you love your Mom and Dad?" The answer they gave is written on the bottom of the "chocolate."

Ava's answer was "Dad plays 'Epic Mickey' and Mom plays 'Angry Birds' with me.

Lily's answer was "Because Daddy fights with me and Mom cooks Brussels sprouts anytime."

Thursday, February 24, 2011

What's black and white and stinky?

I woke up this morning ans walked downstairs and was hit with skunk smell. I turned the light on outside and slowly and noisily opened the door to let Marty out. A minute later I saw a skunk run under the car while Marty chased it out in the yard. Luckily the dog listened to me when I told him to stop and he didn't get sprayed. Still we were left with his eau de le stink wafting in through the back door.

Lily woke up shortly after and came downstairs with a crinkled up nose. This is the conversation that followed.

M: Good morning baby, kinda stinky down here huh?
L: I thought there was a skunk in my room.
M: Well, there was a skunk outside and Marty almost got sprayed. We'll have to tell Grandpa.
L: Well, I thought it was a skunk under my bed, but then I thought that was silly, so I thought it was my stinky socks on my floor.
........
M: Make sure those socks get in the laundry please.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Twins Days here we come!

I am so excited.

I just booked a cabin and we are officially going to Twins Days in Twinsburg, OH. My cousin told me about it and after checking it out I told the ladies about it. They were interested and wanted to see pictures. Watching them see all of those photos of twins...their little faces lit up and they had this moment of....we are not the only ones.

I am so excited for them to feel like the norm for a change. It'll be a great end of the summer vacation before they start kindergarten.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Fancy Party

This is what fancy looks like. You can't tell in the photo but believe you me those fingers are painted a sparkly lilac.

After photos in the foyer there was dancing in the library ( Taylor Swift ) followed by the coloring of castles in the family room.

It's such a fancy life.



Monday, February 21, 2011

Food For Thought

Lily was sick all week last week and missed a full week of school. Ava started losing her voice on Friday and missed school as well. Needless to say we were all getting a little stir crazy and bored. The girls asked me for a "learn" no idea where this term came from but it's their way of asking to do a lesson or learning activity.

With both girls sick I thought I'd teach them about eating healthy and the food groups. I took out some back issues of Women's Day and cut out all of the food I could find; healthy and unhealthy. Then I set the dining room table for two and laid all of the cut out food in the middle of the table.

I grabbed our Internet linked Children's Encyclopedia ......
http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/details.asp?sid=Z2931&gid=113542970&title=Children%27s+Encyclopedia+IL+Reduced+Size&sqlwhere=submit%3Dsearch%26search%3Dchildrens%2Bencyclopedia hooked the computer up to the TV so we could use the big screen and gathered the kids. After reading the pages in the book about the food pyramid and food groups we went online and played all of the games linked to the pages we just read.

When we finished on the computer we headed to the dining room and played "Make Me a Healthy Meal." (the girls came up with that title btw) They had a blast with it. They had to put a healthy meal together using the pictures I had cut out and then tell me what each food was and where it belonged on the pyramid.

We have played this game about 20 times now and they are not sick of it yet. Of course when Daddy and I get to make the dinner it usually consists of cookies, cake, and spicy peppers much to the ladies dismay. Then the wise children help the confused parents make a healthy meal and all is right with the world.

I cannot stress enough how cool the Internet linked books from Usborne are. the girls got a few for Christmas and they are a lot of fun. One "learn" we did was about the ocean and fish. The Internet link was a site where you could create your own fish and release it into the sea to see if it would survive. Very cool stuff.

Quinoa- anybody, anybody?

I had heard of Quinoa but never paid any attention to it until recently. I came across something about how complete of a food it is and I became interested. So I grabbed some at the grocery the other day and it's on the menu for tonight. I hope everyone likes it. Supposedly you can can make it in a rice cooker, so it's easy and fast.

There are millions of recipes on Allrecipes. Anybody ever made it and have a favorite way of preparing it?

The verdict...Yum! The kids loved it, the hubbs loved it, I loved it. It is indeed very similar to brown rice. The kids called it money rice because, "it looks like little pennies". It's going into the weekly line-up.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Happy Girl

Do you ever have a moment where you just feel total happiness? Some part of you knows that you will always remember this exact moment, like a snapshot that your brain takes and files away forever.

Last Friday the ladies and I went to the mall for the day to play, shop, and meet Daddy for lunch. While we were shopping Lily fell in love with this cute little khaki hat and I fell in love with some wire rimmed aviator glasses that looked absolutely adorable on her. We found a few other things too and officially started our vacation shopping.

Later that night Lily was showing Daddy the things I bought her as I was finding new music on itunes. Somehow it turned into Friday night dance party at our house, the volume was up and we were all dancing. At some point Martina McBride "Happy Girl" was playing and Lily and I were dancing, Ava and Daddy had taken a break. Lil was wearing her new hat and sunglasses, an undershirt, and her jeans, along with a big smile.

I have a feeling that song will always make me think of that moment and I'll never forget my little girl at five years old dancing her little booty off.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Coincidence

I baked a bean cake the other day and took it over to my elderly neighbor to check on her during the ice storm and visit for a few minutes.

I penguin walked over there, rang the bell. She thanked me profusely for baking for her because she was out of sweets and she invited me in. I stood in her dining room as she took the cake and bowl of chili I had made her into her kitchen. She had old pictures and newspapers all over her dining table, including her wedding photo from 1944 and a photo of her husband circa 1950.

She joined me in the dining room and said it was so nice that I stopped by and she was just reminiscing, as it was the anniversary of her husbands death. She teared up and then reminded me that last year on this day I brought her baked goods as well. Of course I had completely forgotten that but when she brought it up I remembered. She showed me some pictures and got emotional when she told me about how they had been married just three months before he went off to WWII. We talked about the war and she told me that her husband was in the battle of the bulge, my grandpa was too I said. She told me what her husband did, that he went ahead as a scout... that's what my grandpa did I said.

It was the weirdest feeling. Kind of heeby jeeby but more like ...wow. what if they knew each other? I realize that's a long shot but you just never know. I never knew my grandpa, he passed before I was born and I need to find out more information on his unit. And how weird that I've unknowingly come over to her house every year since meeting her on the anniversary of her husbands death.