Helmets and Chocolate Cake

We had a nice weekend. Larry took the girls out most the day on Saturday and I got to do some relaxing reading. I also had to meet the contractor. He had to take out our oven since Sears won't do it because it wasn't installed by them. Without an oven or micro, we decided we just had to go out to dinner. Tomatinos is the girls' favorite. Mary gets cheese pizza (yes, at least she is finally eating pizza - Maggie will steal just the crust) and Maggie gets the spaghetti and meatballs with 4 extra meatballs so Mary can have some. They like to perform on a little platform before and after dinner. Somehow I lost most the photos...odd.

On the way to a birthday get together, the girls had to wear their helmets (they brought their scooters.)  I told them they looked 'special', but they don't really know the other meaning of that word. One minute they were being silly and wild and then next they were passed out!
The helmets were so big in the back that it made it very difficult to sleep!!! Poor Mary kept bobbing her head up and down over and over until I made an unsafe move and unbuckled her helmet.

Yesterday, we had to take our car into the body shop to fix the huge dent from the 18 wheeler accident, the scrape/dent from Larry running into a fence in the church driveway (can we open that up a little wider?) and a couple dents from me opening the attic ladder into the door. Luckily this is all on the right side of the car and insurance is paying for half of it. We got a Chrysler Town and Country with black leather interior - sticky and hot! The only thing I like about this car more than my Sienna is the Satellite radio (which I could get in my car, but I am too cheap) and the cool retro clock. I guess I love my Sienna!!!!

Then we had to wait for the Sears repair guy between 1-5. While we waited, we started on our fairy house construction.  We saw some amazing little fairy houses in a kids store window.

Besides being somewhat productive, this was quite possibly one of the worst days for the girls (and me). They went to bed way too late and were ridiculously cranky. Maggie had a meltdown over trying to get an old bra of mine that she took out of the trash to stay on her waist. At one point she said while crying, "I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't stop it (crying)." Her big girl teeth seem to be the main cause of all the meltdowns and the lack of sleep didn't help. The girls fought for most of the day. I was glad to have 40 minutes at the gym and of course, they were angels for the day care staff!!

Something that Mary said yesterday cracked me up. She doesn't want to eat her 'Gold Bar' (Fiber One) anymore. I said that we should find another one that she likes. She replied,  "I like the one that tastes like chocolate cake." I am sure you do Mary, I am sure you do! Not even sure she's even tried on like that, but if she could create one, that would be the flavor.

Fairies and Toes

Although we were tired from a big week, the girls still wanted to go to our homeschool meet up  at Fairyland in Oakland. I reminded them that we couldn't stay long because I had a very important pedicure appointment for my yucky feet. We were there early and had lots of fun before we met up with friends. The first stop was the Jack and Jill hill where they slide down on cardboard.

I sure wish I could do this and not look like a crazy old gal...

The Queen and Princess Flower Fairies. Their words, not mine!

Fun on the ferris wheel. 

The Jack and the Beanstalk puppet show was cute. They always do a nice job. It's even nicer when the hostess isn't covered in tattoos, piercings and purple mohawk hair. I'm all for self-expression, but let's not scare the kids.

Even after putting on a play on stage with their friends Olivia, Noah and Sophia and going on a couple rides, we still made it for my pedicure. It was so relaxing, but I remembered that it is usually followed by pleading by two little girls to also have their nails painted. I loved the color I chose by Spalena (chemical free) called 'Love' and figured the girls would too. So while they watched a Veggie Tales movie and ate popcorn, I got to play manicurist.  Triplet toes!!!!!

Yay for date night. Good food at Zen followed by a ridiculously violent and action packed, but sort of funny movie with Tom Cruise.

Jesus' Love is One of a Kind...

...He loves us so much we're always on His mind...
Not a bad song to have stuck in my head for days. This is one of the main songs for this year's VBS. We bought the CD and video with all the dance moves, so it will be on continuous loop in my brain for awhile. Definitely better than Frozen lyrics that I endured for months!

We were super lazy this morning and a little tired. I drove to the gym by accident instead of the church for the last day of VBS- vacation bible school. Oops!

I let them go in with one of the runners (preteens) this time to avoid the church lady. I am trying to let go (Let it Go, Let it Go...aaahhh) and trust!  We talked a lot about the camp theme over lunch which was - Jesus loves you even when...you're left out, you're different, you don't understand, you do wrong, and when you're afraid. I think they get it even more than I do. 

Maggie was too into her 'hedgehog' group photo to take picture with Avila and Mary.

                                   

This is pretty amazing. This is one of 5 Weird Animal dog tags the girls received at camp. After downloading the app you hover the iPad over the tag and this is what happens. You can also feed, clean and help the animal take a nap.

                                     

                                   

Here is Maggie's new song: 

After riding their scooters to Taekwondo, the girls wanted to play more at the daycare and apparently give me some more time off. Then we had dinner at the club. 

Before scooting home we just had to climb a tree. After this Mary lost her scooter when she didn't stop after I yelled it five times before a busy driveway.  Just when I thought they were over their tantrums, they surprise me with a whopper! Exhaustion is definitely a factor. Maggie had to keep pointing out how well she listens, which really helped the whole situation...haha.




Here is Mary putting my shoes away from her afternoon high heel shoe raid. And yes, I had to tell her (I mean ask her) to clean it up.

Leafy Sea Dragon and Awkward Silence

We started our morning with our basic chores of getting dressed and the making the bed. I was proud of Mary for starting on her bed without having to remind her. I guess with 4 year olds if you do something 50 times, it starts to become automatic. Just wish it had only taken 5 times.

Maggie and Mary started talking about bible school as soon as they put their camp shirts on. Mary said something about the deer group, but Maggie corrected her, "Mary, it's the Chinese Water Deer group." Then Mary pointed to an animal on her shirt and couldn't remember what it was. Maggie quickly blurted out, "That's Fern the Leafy Sea Dragon." Luckily they are in the the Hedgehog group which is pretty straight forward.

We finished the only school activities we are doing this week; bible story, Pledge of Allegiance, calendar and writing/tracing. The writing of the letter Q turned into drawing rectangles, squares and triangles. The good looking ones are mine...haha.

Love this book!

                                         

We decided to bike over with the trailer. They were cracking me up while I was getting all the ridiculous biking equipment down and hooked up. Since I didn't write it down, I can't remember any of it. Wish my mind was as sharp as theirs!

Maggie cried this time at drop off. The same cranky old church lady was pretty much pushing me out again. I guess I am about the only mom who walks all the way in with them, but I really just want to say, "back off old lady!" I realized that wasn't the Christian response and instead said my goodbyes and left. 

After camp many of us stayed and had a picnic while the kids played with their new toys.  I met a new mom and the first questions is always, "Are they starting Kindergarten this year?" First I say, 'No, they are not old enough yet (since their birthday is December 5th).' and then I say, "But we are Homeschooling for now.'  Awkward silence followed by an "Oh, wow! That's neat, but I could never do that."  Another awkward pause. I explained that I had never even thought of homeschooling before we had the girls and that it's all pretty new and different to me, but we love it so far.  Blank stare and that was pretty much the end to the conversation. Luckily my homeschooling friend Windy was sitting next to me and we continued to talk about it!

                                               

After the bike ride home, we were all tired, especially me. The girls still had energy to teach me the dance to the Jesus song and Maggie said, "Mom, you are getting pretty good at this!" She's such an encouraging teacher, that Magster. 

While I was doing something in the kitchen, it became way too quiet. This is what I found; the girls reading while listening to Christian music. Love it! And no, this doesn't happen most of the time. Usually Mary is upstairs raiding my closet for shoes and Maggie is dumping out several bins of toys and stuffed animals. 

                                

Weird Animals and Tears

Today was the first day of Vacation Bible School at our local Baptist Church. I kept joking that they were kind enough to let the Catholics come. It's called Weird Animals and is a program that can be purchased for any church or organization. The message is that Jesus loves them in all their differences and imperfections, just as He loves the weird animals that they will learn about. I got their snacks ready with a little love note, but was a little irritated that one of the coordinators tried to give them back to me because she said they provided a snack. She said popcorn, but turns out it was jello. I am not that much of a health nut, but that's not exactly what I'd consider a substantial snack! Glad Mary insisted they hold on to theirs.  Seeing their friend Avila and her mother, who was volunteering, made them feel safe.
I was looking forward to some ME time, but I was fighting back the tears as we said goodbye. I hope they didn't notice.  Man, I love these girls!!!

My tears subsided after talking to Larry and started to take care of few of my To Do items. While waiting for them to be done, I talked to many moms that I knew from around town.  The girls walked out hand in hand just as they had walked in. They had a blast and Maggie said, "I love camp!" This is the girl who wept weeks ago when I told her about signing her up for this. She thought it meant they were going camping without us for 4 days. 

Here they are showing me the dance they learned with the theme song. These darn Jesus songs always make me cry. 

Between afternoon book reading, we start talking about how God loves us even when we are not perfect and that His love is perfect. Mary looks at me and says, "You are perfect Mommy." I said humbly, "No, I am not perfect." She immediately starts crying. Perplexed, I began thinking of what she could have meant based on our conversation.  After a few guesses, finally she agreed that she meant her love for me was perfect.  So sweet. 

After books, we got to squeeze in some painting before my Yoga class.  I tried to show them how to draw something first with pencil and then paint it. I suggested we continue our train theme and use rectangles and circles.  Maggie wasn't having it and instead painted a picture of her on a crane, with the sun and sky. Mary drew and painted a hula girl and her walking a black dog (O.K., sort of following directions). I am the only one who followed the instructions, but isn't creativity best expressed when you come up with your own ideas? Apparently. Sometimes I just need to get out of the way. 

One More Train

We went on a family adventure today and took CalTrain from San Mateo to Palo Alto.

The train depot is in a great location right between Stanford University and downtown. We walked through an underpass (is that a word?) or tunnel to get to University Avenue.

We had lunch at the University Cafe which was pretty good. Mary made basic shapes out of the napkins and gave us a pop- quiz. Then she wore them. Maggie and daddy were thoroughly entertained.

Next was a little walk followed by ice cream and coffee. Kudos to Scoops for having coconut sorbet for me!!!!

                                          

Maggie said on the walk back to the train, "I am going to run out of energy!" 

Surprise and Art - 6/20/14

The girls hadn't seen their best friend Avila all week and were so excited to see her at MOCHA, a children's art studio. 

They were sad that we had to make a dental appointment first for Maggie, but I wanted to get her loose tooth checked.

The Dentist asked me to come look into her mouth. First he showed me her 6 year molar that had grown in half way! What? Then he showed me the x-Ray of her front adult tooth pushing out her baby tooth. What I thought was a broken root, was actually her adult tooth cutting her gums. Crazy early!

 We made it to MOCHA right when it opened and had a blast with Avila making something at each art/craft station.

Above is Maggie's teepee.

This is Mary's.

Here is my doctor. I cut my finger while washing a steak knife. The girls took such good care of me. "Mommy, it's going to be alright. Take a deep breath. We will take card of you." They got me a bandaid and Mary squeezed triple anti on it first (a trick from her babysitter) before putting it on my finger. They both put on my white tanks for a doctor's costume and told me to go lie down and rest. Then Maggie gave me a shot in face. Ouch!

We had tennis date night tonight and I beat Larry 6-3! Yes!

More Trains - 6/19/14

I was bound determined to give the girls another train experience this week because our unit study is trains. We have several books from the library, but I love for them to have hands on experience with the subjects we are studying. The thought of going to the Peninsula to ride CalTrain after my workout in the morning and before their Taekwondo in the afternoon sounded tiring, so we opted for the horse drawn train at Ardenwood Farm.

                                                  

The girls immediately started playing with sticks (big surprise) and tried to build a fort. I love that  knowing they were going to the farm, they still wanted to wear their girly dresses. Some mornings they just have to dress like "twinsies" and this was one such occasion. Glad they at least chose the cowboy boots!

Maggie had quit a spill while climbing some dusty stairs to see the sheep. She cut her lip, but otherwise seemed OK...I discovered another injury later in the day :0(

The girls got to pump some water from the well and milk and pretend cow!!!

The girls discovered some baby geese and fed them some flowers. I have never seen geese go so crazy for food. I got nervous they might get their little fingers. Maggie, of courses, asked for a baby goose.  We then saw a pea-hen with her babies. So cute! Then, Maggie sai she wanted a baby peacock in house. It is a new animals every day.

We walked by the Patterson home and one of the volunteers working on the house greeted us. He was cute old man in his late 70s and he asked if we had been on a tour. We hadn't, but apparently he was also a tour guide.  He asked us to sit down on the Queene Anne style porch and gave us the history of the farm and home. It was a fascinating story, but I think he forgot I had two 4 year olds with me. They were very patient, but then Mary asked if they could go play and fearing they would soon be a fidgeting mess, I said yes.  It was such a great treat to listen to him, but the girls were running amuck in the gazebo over yonder and I had to excuse myself.

On the way out of the farm we stopped at the produced stand and bought lots of fruits, veggies, and flowers. My recently fruit averse Maggie promised she would try peaches, apricots and plums. We'll see.

We sat outside for dinner, just us three girls, while daddy was at his men's night. The girls set the little kid pink table and convinced me to use paper plates and plastic utensils for easy clean-up. Smart girls, except now my back hurts from sitting on a tiny chair...haha. 

While brushing teeth, I noticed Maggie's front right tooth was loose, apparently from the fall. I guess we are goin to the dentist tomorrow!

A Day in the Life

We had a rough start this morning. Bible reading went smoothly. We prayed for Pappy who was undergoing surgery. Getting dressed was fine. Then before making her bed, Maggie insisted on wearing her birthday hat and then had a meltdown because it wouldn't stay on. She threw it several times and ripped it. Poor Maggie! Poor mommy!!

Finally, she decided to join in on her morning routine and help with the calendar. She had to do Pledge of
Allegiance and tracing by herself in order to 'earn' her breakfast cartoon.

Luckily, I got a little break! Our sitter Tamara arrived after breakfast (and did their reading lesson :0)) and I went to an amazing dance class and to Costco!

What a cart!!!! Would have been a great shopping trip except for the creepy toothless, old dirty guy who kept chatting AT me, staring and touching my groceries...as Jimmy Fallon would say, "eeewww!"

After lunch, the girls started turning boxes into vehicles with a little mommy help. This is the double decker bus and below that is a boat. So creative!

The Sears repair guy showed up at 1:30 for a 1-5 service window- miracle!!!! It will cost over $500 to fix our microwave. Seriously? The warranty just ran out, of course. Apparently, our contractor installed the oven without a shelf to sit on, so they won't even fix it until we get a shelf installed. Geez.

Off to the park for a quick picnic. Maggie is using a lasso that Mary made and we are cheering her on.

We just heard Pappy's surgery went well!! Praise God!

Off to take a shower and wash my hair, finally!