We've had a pretty relaxed week around here.  Terrible weather as usual, has kept us from enjoying a variety of outdoor activities, but we're still moving nonetheless.  Tuesday, we had a great morning of swimming and playing at an indoor play structure.  They could spend hours at this activity.  The pool area has one of those play structures that shoots water everywhere, and the three of us went to that side of the pool area for the first time.  They had a blast!  There was a really fast slide that bounced them out on their bottoms and they just thought it was the funniest thing.  Sadly, the morning open hours are done now that it's supposed to be summer around here, and we'll have to wait until October to go back in the mornings.  (I did sign us up for two public outdoor pools that open in June, so we won't be totally without.)

Wednesday was dance class day, and Dave stayed home due to a pretty bad cold.  He got to accompany us to the dance class, which he's never seen.  Sadly, Taylor just flat out refused to go in to either the tap or the ballet part of the class, so she didn't get to show off for him.  Cassidy, on the other hand, did a fantastic job with her tapping, wiggling and twirling.  She's really getting in to it.  Next week there is a recital.....  I hope I can borrow someone's video recorder because it's going to be hilarious.  We got ice cream after dance (rainbow sherbet for Cassidy and vanilla for Taylor), and then went to the pet store to play with the caged animals.  Always a fun way to pass the time.  They love the mice there, and say that they tickle them (gotta love that huh, Bobbe?)  It's all a routine, and we pretty much follow that every Wednesday at this point.

Thursday we went to a new park that had an actual zip line for the kids.  It was great, and almost high enough for me to enjoy a go.  Yes, I held on to the girls so they wouldn't fall off.  But it was about 50 feet in length, and they thought it was very fun.  Met a bunch of new ladies there (in an attempt to widen my circle of friends), who all seemed nice.  We'll definitely go back to the park, and maybe we've made some new friends too....

Well, that's it for now, like I said, a pretty mellow week so far.  We might go swimming tomorrow at a different pool, but I'm not sure at this point.  We'll see what I can conjure up.

Take it easy, hope it's warm where you are.  Send it my way, please.

Memorial Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend, and hope yours was good as well.  Lots of park activities since the weather has finally started to warm up.  The girls are also tremendously content to just wander the backyard and neighborhood, picking up bugs and flowers, and trying to climb trees.  They're really social, and they always want to play with "my friends" (other kids), even if they don't know them.  At the park, Cassidy has become a master at swinging on the big swings.  Thankfully she holds on well, because of course she wants to go higher, higher!  Taylor spends more time climbing on things and running; the swings are not her favorite.

We had a great barbecue at our neighbor's house on Sunday.  There were at least 10 other kids there, and the girls were in heaven.  They played hide and seek in the house and outside, tag, and did gymnastics with the older girls.  They tried to catch a baseball, but it was being hit by a 1o year-old boy who was erratic to say the least!  Anyway, we didn't leave until about 8:30, and the girls were filthy and exhausted.  It was a blast.

On Monday, we went to a parade with about half the population of Illinois.  Apparently, besides enrolling in soccer, the other mandatory requirement for children in this area is that they join the marching band.  These school bands were HUGE.  It wasn't that way in Humboldt at all.  I remember that we needed to kind of poll all the schools and even the colleges to have enough participants to create a marching band!  Well, we saw our junior high school babysitter march by, which was a highlight, and of course we loved the cheerleaders (yep, another childhood requirement, I fear).  At one point some Elks type men marched by and one of the girls called out, "Hey, it's Captain Hook," because they all had really elaborate plumes coming out of their hats.  Good association, huh?

We played in the garden, and discussed weeds versus plants a lot.  This year we're growing beans, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, lettuce and beets.  We just put in a few rows of watermelon and pumpkins as well.  Still have to get in some corn, but that ground is a pain and I now dream of at least renting a roto-tiller.  Anyway, they're excited for that, and love to eat the veggies right off the plant.

Interview with Taylor

Okay, so the last few days (or weeks; it's kind of blurry), Taylor has been getting up around 7 or so, sometimes earlier sometimes a little later.  Cassidy, on the other hand, likes to sleep in if at all possible.  This is due to the fact that Cassidy likes to roll around in bed for at least an hour before falling to sleep.  This makes her actual "sleep" time around 10 or 10:30, depending on the night and such.  Taylor usually goes to bed at 9 or 9:30.  Anyway.....

This morning I was sitting on the couch with Taylor watching some cartoon.  I asked her some questions and thought it was a pretty good response for a 3 year-old.

Me: What's your favorite thing in the whole, wide world?

Taylor:  A real pink puppy. 

Me: What's your favorite food?

Taylor: Pop Tarts or hot dogs or noodles

Me:  What's your favorite thing to do?

Taylor:  Playdough

Me:  Who is your best friend?

Taylor:  'Abby (Gabby, a girl in her dance class who NEVER talks to her)

Me:  Who is your favorite person?

Taylor: Daddy

She's pretty cute, even though she didn't say "Mommy."  Dave is pretty awesome.

So they asked to jump on the pull out couch in the basement.  They took about 20 kitchen towels and put them under the bed part.  They made nests for birdies.  I haven't dared to look to see what the "birdies" are.  They're now feeding them berries, which are actually crayons.  There are a zillion crayons under the sofa bed, I imagine.

See!  They're so entertaining in such a weird way!  That's why I had to share.

Nothing to Report Really

Today was supposed to be dance class morning, but the girls didn't want to go.  They had been playing outside earlier, and when we got in and were about to get the leotards on, they begged to not go.  Normally I don't care too much because we can always do make ups later in the week.  Unfortunately, the Friday class was cancelled and we're about to have a recital and all the dance classes are doing something different....  So we missed our class and will go later to a gym class as a make up session.  Bummer, but they didn't seem too heartbroken about it.  

We went to Target for a few groceries instead.  Who'da thunk that Target would be a kids' destination of choice?  They really like it, and I guess it's because there's a bakery where they can get a cookie "sample."  Eh, it makes my life a little easier.

Tomorrow I think we're headed to a local zoo, Cosley Zoo in Wheaton.  It has a lot of farm animals and is free.  We haven't been there before, so who knows how it will be.

I am trying to figure out how to add pictures and such.  Patience, please!

We've made it to Wednesday

Well, this hasn't been the most exiting week in their lives so far, so I will start with Sunday.  We went to the zoo on a chilly day, always a fun activity here.  The girls wore two jackets (I had an extra in the car for each of them) and no socks (because it's supposed to be Spring, damnit).  They got to pet sting rays, which was a highlight, and nobody fell in to the pool.  The usual animals were visited, and we went into this area called "The Fragile Desert," which should be called "the place that smells like pee" instead.  It was pretty gross, and we zipped out of there as fast as we could.  

Later on, we went across the street to the neighbor's house for a little BBQ.  Again, too darn cold, but the kids had fun.  Erica (the mom) has a son, Austin, who turns 3 in June, so it's fitting that they play together so well.  

Monday we went to Lowes and Costco, how's that for fun?  We looked for strawberries to plant, but apparently I can only plant those from seedlings, and they were 6 bucks a seedling at Lowes.  At Costco, the girls got really goofy in the cart and started mauling each other and trying to lay big, juicy kisses on the other one, all while squealing in that crazy high pitch that they do.  It was both scary and entertaining.  Needless to say, I ran out of Costco!

Tuesday we had a really boring adventure too, but they enjoyed it.  (It occurs to me now that perhaps I shouldn't label everything as 'boring' so that when and if they read this, they won't accuse me of being blase....)  Off to the local mall for a day of indoor fun as the weather is still not cooperating.  We had to stop at Libby Lu and get fairy dust in their hair.  They're so cute when they do it.  The lady asks them to close their eyes and make a wish, and they just stand there so excited with their eyes so tight.  It's like they're ready to burst with the excitement of the possibility of the wish coming true.  By the way, they pretty much always wish for the same thing:  Taylor, a dog, and Cassidy, either a dog or cat.  

Gotta run, they're calling already!

Hello all!  I wanted to put a place up where Dave and I could talk about the girls, since that's all we pretty much do these days.  So basically, the following will be a place where we record, with words and pictures, all the wonderful things we do from day to day.  Hope it keeps you interested and envious of being 3 and having absolutely nothing to do all day but play. 

Love ya,

Becca and Dave