Summertime

Summertime, apparently, means no time for bloggage. Not because we've been on a million fun vacations (We haven't). Not because every day is so gol-dang gorgeous and we spend every waking second outside (It's not. When it's nice, it's REALLY NICE, but much of the summer has been fairly miserable with rain and insanely populous clouds of mosquitoes). I don't actually have a reason. Just- we've been doing our thing with some pics thrown up on the facebook here and there but I just haven't been motivated to sit down and write about it, okay? GOSH.

I have been working on a toddler music review entry though. That's gonna be a good one. I make no promises, but I hope to finish that one up soon. We've been listening to a lot of music.

Today is just your basic garden-variety rainy day. Last night there was a seriously cool thunderstorm, I'm talking thunder you could FEEL, and one time it was so loud it set off a neighbors car alarm. I'm not even joking, that actually happened. But now it's tapered off to a steady rain.

Miss Violet took a weirdly early nap today, which left Miss Finn and myself some good old-fashioned one-on-one time. We did a few "progrects" as Fiona calls them. One a stick puppet endeavor that was mainly a "Mama makes puppets while Fiona dumps Elmer's glue directly into a basket of rice" type of thing.




The other was something I've been meaning to get around to for quite some time now. Namely- a felt board, and lots of fun pieces to put on it. I have grand intentions of making a whole bunch of different themes to play with, like a baggie marked "Weather" and one marked "Letters" and one marked "Shapes" and of course, "Holidays" and whole stories full of characters, etc... but that is a big undertaking, which is why I got as far as buying a huge stack of felt and putting it in a bag in the closet and then promptly abandoned the task for I don't know how long, until today I said "screw it" and we pulled out the felt and some scissors and I just started cutting out shapes. Started with some squares and triangles to make houses, and then just kept going as Fiona asked for more items. A girl, a dog, a tree, some clouds, a purse. Just fun.

I'm quite proud of that dog, BTW.

Now my little lady is awake and Fiona is asleep (curse you, back-and-forth nap schedule days!) and so I should probably lavish the same amount of attention on her, lest I give her some sort of complex. Peace out, yo.

Read more...

Walking that fine line between lame and AWESOME.

Sometimes I think of an idea and it is so super cool, and then halfway through doing it I realize it's kind of lame. Then I think, maybe it's so lame it's cool, then I think "you're overthinking things", then I decide I don't care because I FEEL LIKE MAKING SUGAR COOKIES SHAPED LIKE HOCKEY MASCOTS AND PIPING ICING ONTO OREOS TO MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE HOCKEY PUCKS FOR THE STANLEY CUP FINALS. And I don't care how room-mother-ish that is. Also, caps-style yelling.

Boston Bruins vs. Vancouver Canucks (orcas? def had to google that one)

And then today it was rainy again and we went to the science museum and then when Nate got home we all put on our rainboots and splashed in the puddles in the lane and THAT was undeniable PURE awesome.

Walking with Mama

Teaching baby sister to splash and jump.

Yelling hello to the turtles. Yes. The TMNT.

Kisses for Daddy.

Read more...

Goin' Camping

Tonight after dinner Fiona asked if we could go camping. Or, to be totally accurate, she said "We're going camping, okay Mama?" I think she watched a camping episode of YoGabbaGabba.

But I thought, hell. Why not. Let's go camping. Dragged the beach tent and the sleeping bags up from the basement, let this sort of adorability unfold. These girls are just the bestest.

Read more...

One Year.

Well, my little lady's first birthday has come and nearly gone. I'm still kind of in shock that she's so big, and now I've got a 2-yr-old and a 1-yr-old. We had a lovely time at her birthday party on Sunday, and at her birthday playdate this morning. She gave me a wonderful birthday gift last night, too. She SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! I think the last time I slept through the night was the night before her actual day of birth. So I woke up this morning feeling like a million bucks.

I got nothing else but some pics from the last couple days. I was stressin' about the birthday decorations, but I ended up really happy with what we pulled together.

Fishies, Cheerios, animal crackers, and raisins. A one-year-old snack buffet!

Getting some candle-blowing "help" from big sissy.

Cake.

One.

Fam.

All the kiddos. We definitely promised them jelly beans to get them all on there.


Done.

Storytime with Daddy before bed.

Found this book about a kitty named Violet. I think our Violet is here to stay, too.

Read more...

Just not shiny enough.

Violet's birthday is next Monday. Since her party is in two days, I figured now is as good a time as any to start planning it...

Argh. As a good 21st century mama, I immediately googled "first birthday party" and then became increasingly despondent that I do not have the craftiness or planniness or prettiness required to pull off one of those ridiculously gorgeous parties you see floating around tha blawgz.

Thank goodness I then came across this article, and in particular, this bit of advice:

"theme:
You're tired and busy, but you want to celebrate your baby's first birthday, dammit! Don't go overboard with anything, just make foods you love and invite your favourite people over for a beautiful brunch.

invites:
Nothing elaborate, just get on the horn and ask. Or, even easier, send an email. You don't even have to punctuate it."

Ok. The internet has officially given me permission to get a bunch of balloons, order some pizzas, buy some beers, hang the same HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner we've used the past two years (though this time we'll have to take it down at some point, instead of leaving it up on the wall for Fiona/Mama/Daddy/Jesus' birthdays), and call it a day. Happy birthday, Violet. I really do love you lots. It's just... I don't have the wherewithall to plan an entire Cheerio-themed party, as MUCH as I would love to. I should just embrace my balloons-and-cupcakes self.

It will be great. And you'll turn one either way. Also, walking? My lovey! You're such a big girl!

Read more...

Oh Canada.

The other day the girls and I went for a run. Or, I went for a run and they went for a ride. In a double stroller. Which I pushed. While running. In the wind. For 5.5 miles. See, I can make running crazy even when it's actually quite beautiful outside.

While on our run, I came upon several different people rollerblading. ROLLERBLADING?!?!? They still let you do that? I was pretty sure it wasn't allowed outside of like... 1995. Like, I'm serious. I hadn't seen anyone on rollerblades in quite some time. And there were several different people! And I saw one yesterday, too! Apparently it's still done here.

Me, winning a nerd award, back when rollerblading was cool.*

*Cool is relative. Cause I thought I was the shiz, with my white shorts and my rose-print vest and my friendship bracelet on my ankle? HELLZ yeah.

But hey, more power to 'em. Me, I'll stick with running.

So yesterday evening Violet said her first word! Or, what we're counting as her first word. She's done a few that we're like "did she just say Dada? Was that a Mama?" but this was like, an unmistakeable, repeated, unprompted (Well, the first one was unprompted. Then we made her do it like 83 more times for the camera) word! And what was this word, you ask? It was cheese. Guess I take a few pictures of these kids.



And with that, the monsters are awake. Got to dash.

Remember to stay hydrated, y'all.*

*I'm obviously WAY cooler than I was in 6th grade.**

**NOT.

Read more...

Oh, that.

Faced my arch-nemesis yet again this morning. Apparently this family wants to eat EVERY day, and that requires continuous grocery shopping? WTF, reality?

It actually went quite well, all things considered. The only comment I have to make is this. Why, bagger guy? Why must you pack my bags so unevenly? The bag of (almost) all frozen food, I get. The separate bag for cleaning/beauty supplies, totally cool. Even the bag of all canned goods I kind of understand (though my shoulder is less forgiving). But why did you split these dry goods in this manner? Why stuff one bag full to the top and leave the other with only a bag of baby carrots, a can of pears, and a thing of chocolate syrup? This irritates me. I used to work at a store. I rang up and bagged groceries. I understand it can be difficult to prioritize and categorize when everything comes at you in no order. But this I do not understand. I would even understand if that tiny bag was the last one you packed and you were just like in the zone and all of a sudden "oh, that's everything?" but no. This bag was in the middle. You chose to stop at three items and place that bag down into my cart. WHY?!?!!?!?!?! I am just so befuddled by your decision, oh bagger boy.

Did you think the blue bag just wasn't up to the job?

Also today. First iced beverage purchase of the season at the 'bux. So stoked about that. Went running this morning for the first time in a month. Apparently when the weather is nice and nobody is impressed by my running 3 miles I lose all motivation. I'm like one of those annoying people who doesn't like a band anymore because they're "too popular". Running. Psh. It's nice out, everyone is running. I used to run when it was cold and nobody else even wanted to go outside. In other words, I'm SUPER lame.

Okay. So this morning went really well. All that stuff I said plus then the babies napped for 3 full hours and I did things like start this blog post. Then they woke up. And we had lunch. And then I got the bright idea to go to the playground before dinner.

It sounded like a good plan. Walk the 15 min to the playground, have a little fun, walk home in time to get dinner in the oven. Oh, yeah, that sounds great! And I'll bring the dog! Cause she'll like that! And it's so nice out!

AHGAROGROGRHOAGGJHGOAHRHGHGH.

First mistake- I decided not to drag the double jogger up from the basement, and instead put Violet in the umbrella stroller and let Fiona walk. Thank goodness she declined my offer of allowing her to bring either her doll stroller or her bike. Our 15-minute walk, while absolutely enjoyable, took us over an hour.

NO, Mama. Don' hulp. Imma push my sister Bi-let.

Second mistake- The dog. Oh, the dog. She's mostly good, but there are NINE JILLION RABBITS and oh the rabbits. This dog is crazy for them. Full on crazy-fit with yelping, she gets so worked up wanting to chase them that she pulls on the leash like a maniac....gah. Nearly knocked Fiona down once. But other than the rabbits...

Third mistake- Got a bit overconfident on the potty training issue. She's been doing so well! And even this morning, when we went grocery shopping, no accidents! Soooooooo yeah. You see where this is going. And not just wet. THANK GOODNESS I went to a new playgroup a couple weeks ago and met a woman that lives directly across the street from this playground, and has a son about the same size as Fiona, so I was able to go over and beg a diaper off her.

So there I stood, on the porch of a fairly new acquaintance. In one hand I held the end of the dog's leash as she pulled like CRAZY toward the three rabbits in the next yard. With the other hand I did my best to clean up my poor little soiled 2-year-old. Violet sat in the stroller, happily crunching away on an apple.

THIS is my life.

Sigh.

As we started back toward home, Fiona started begging to go play on the playground some more. I caved, since quite frankly, the thought of that hour-long walk home was not in the least bit appealing. I called Nate, who mercifully had already arrived home, and was able to drive the mile over to the playground to pick us up. My hero.

And tomorrow we get to wake up and do it all again.

Oh, and Violet pooped in the tub. Again. As usual.

Read more...