Monumental Moment

Mark this one on your calendars, folks.  Somehow today, Taylor achieved the impossible.  And Cassidy was almost as close.  

While helping the girls pick out their clothes in their bedroom this morning, Taylor said she'd be right back and scampered into our bedroom.  I thought nothing of it, as she likes to check herself out in the big mirror or go jump on the bed.  So I was UTTERLY surprised when she meandered back in to her bedroom carrying a stunned but subdued SAMSON in her arms!  She said something akin to, "Here he is, let's pet Samson!"  Holy Mackerel, people, this cat will not stay in the same room as Cassidy and Taylor, let alone allow them to pick him up!  Cassidy and I were flabbergasted.

He stayed for all of about 2 seconds once she put him down, and then blasted down the stairs in order to prove his true colors (scaredy cat).  As we came down later, he gave us the evil eye from under a dining room chair.  And then Cassidy wandered over and sat down with him and petted him for a few minutes!  

WHERE IS MY CAT?  WHO IS THIS FRIENDLY BLACK FUR BALL IMPERSONATING MY PISSY, GRUMPY SAMSON????

Well, that's it for now.  Have a good day!

Kiddie Land

So we went off to Kiddie Land today.  It's a kids amusement park outside of Chicago.  All of the rides are for little munchkins, and include a roller coaster, ferris wheel, log ride and other carnival-type attractions.  At least 70% of the rides are designated as "children only," so poor mom or dad has to wait on the outside of the ride.  It's a super cool park, but kind of small in overall acerage, which is good if you have little kids who can't handle it too long, but bad if you have overly energetic, goof balls....

Absolutely every ride was a blast, and they gave me giant hugs after each ride was done.  They loved the Dumbo ride (really just elephants), the rockets, the cars and the carousel.  There was one ride where they sat in cars that were attached to a center ring at the front.  As the ring spun, the cars would "torque" out with their back wheels, sending the girls on a little g-force pull.  Man, if you had seen Taylor's face, you'd have died!  She just LOVED it.  She held her neck kind of rigid and leaned back to get the full effect.  It was hysterical.  It took Cassidy a few spins to realize that she wasn't about to fly off the ride.  Her favorite was probably the big-style Ferris Wheel, which I rode with them.  Have you ever heard Taylor and Cassidy scream?  EVERY time we got to the top, they both screamed at the top of their lungs.  And that scream lasted until we got to the bottom, and then a new one basically started up again as soon as we began to climb.  Another hysterical moment for me.  I was in tears I was laughing so much.  We did stop at the top a couple of times and they pointed out "Daddy's office" (a tall building a few miles away) and airplanes that all contained Grandma and Grandpa.  

A slight downer was the log ride, which I accompanied them on as well.  We sat in the back section of the log, and as it took off I realized that they couldn't see in front of them or out of the sides of the log.  So that was kind of scary because they couldn't anticipate the bumps and turns.  Yeah, the top was frightening.  They were not pleased.  Taylor cried at the bottom, mostly because she got wet.  Cassidy had a death grip on me at first and then started laughing.  We watched it for a while when we got off.  I don't think that ride will be in our near future again.

Can't wait to go again with Dave!

Father's Day Weekend

Can we get any busier?  The weekend was filled with adventures, some big, some little, but all told, it seems like we didn't stop moving at all!  

Friday, we went for a twilight walk, which was really fun.  We often don't get out at night because of the crushing time schedule (dinner, bath, stories, bed), but we made an exception and skipped the baths, even though they had painted earlier in the day and were slightly rainbow-colored.  We smelled flowers, made footprints from puddles, and generally caroused, annoying/entertaining many neighbors as we passed by.

Saturday, we hit the public swimming area, as it was predicted to be a scorcher in the mid eighties.  We didn't account for the wind and LACK of humidity, though, and it was surprisingly chilly.  Regardless, we were there for about 3 hours, and had a darn good time.  There was a "river" to float on with inner tubes, and the girls (and Dave) enjoyed that a lot.  

After swimming, we hit the movie theater for Kung Fo Panda.  Taylor got a little bored, but Cassidy loved it.  They both said numerous times that fighting was not nice during the show, so I know they're going to be nice girls, and that we have trained them well.  But Cassidy is still trying to do the finger-pinch move that eventually took down the bad villain in the movie.....  After the movie, we finally headed home, and had an evening of relaxation out on the deck with thee bugs.  Good times!

Father's Day Sunday, we gave Dave his presents early.  Cassidy made him a brown and pink princess and Taylor gave him a green and orange mermaid.  They had painted them at the ceramic store the week before.  He was so pleased with their creations!  He got a new painted plate from me that said "World's Best Dad" and had their names on it too.  I thought it was cute, and he's used it several times already.  

We went to Naperville to some festival that touted a Petting Zoo for our morning activity.  As it is here in the midwest, though, nothing was really going on when we got there, because everyone was still churching it up.  So we wandered away from the festival and ended up at the paddle boat rides again.  Dave had a great time paddling the 4 of us around for a while in the quarry.  Then we had a great walk along the river, followed by a wonderful lunch on a restaurant patio.  Back to the festival, which was mediocre, and finally home again.  I got a couple of pictures of Dave and the girls, which were kind of good.

In the late afternoon, we tried to get to Costco for some supplies, but found that again, due to godly obligations we presume, it was already closed!  So we made due with Target instead.  I know, I'm a sinner for blaming everything on the midwesty church crowd, but jeesh, it's really annoying some times!  So we had a late dinner and lots of playing time when we got home, and the girls didn't get to bed before 10!  It was a really fun and very busy day.

Wow, that's a lot of description for 2 days.  Sorry it wasn't funnier.  Today we're off to a park that has free kiddie rides.  Should be fun.  I hope they're up for it after their late night.

Have a good week!

Summer woes

No, it's not the heat that has suddenly started steam-cooking us....not yet anyway.  The summer woe for today was that Taylor got a giant splinter in her foot and didn't tell me until about 10 hours later.  

Now I knew that it was going to be a bear to get out (right on the ball of her right foot), but thought I could dig at it a little.  Yeah, kids don't like that.

First I tried tweezers.  That sucked.  She turned into the kid from the Exorcist and started screaming and making her head twist around.  It was frightening.

Then I tried a needle to dig it up.  You can imagine how that went.  I even iced it first!  Then I let her ice it.  More Exorcist scenes were created.  Cassidy offered her poor, crying sister her own pacifier because she was crying so much.  Then Cassidy covered her ears to block out the torture sounds.  Yep, my hands were shaking a bit by this point.

So I went to the ever handy internet and read about how to "get out a splinter."  They, the internet gods, suggested using nail clippers to dig up the skin if you couldn't get a hold on the splinter itself. 

Just picture me holding Taylor down with her leg firmly under my left arm, digging at the BALL of her foot with nail clippers (I did sanitize them).  It was one of the meanest things I have ever personally done to my kids.

They both got a lollipop afterward.

This weekend we're buying some sort of outdoor carpet for the deck.

Growing Up

Yesterday we were driving home from some outing and the girls decided to talk about who they were going to marry.

Taylor: I'm going to marry Peter Pan

Cassidy: I'm going to marry Peter Pan

Taylor: I'm going to marry Prince Charming

Cassidy: I'm going to marry Peter Pan

(Repeat for about 5 minutes)

Taylor: I'm going to marry DADDY!

Cassidy: I'm going to marry MOMMY!

I don't know if they know what it means, but I was surprised to learn that they wanted to marry ANYBODY.  And Cassidy rocks of course!

Dance Recital

Wednesday the girls had a dance recital at the Little Gym.  They've been taking the class for a couple of months, and sometimes they liked it, and sometimes they didn't.  I don't know why.  Anyway, they do about 20 minutes each of tap, ballet and tumbling for the class, and the grand finale was that parents were invited in to watch.  (This is their first "class" without me there -yay!)

Taylor agreed to do it after flat out refusing the week prior.  They looked so cute dancing to "Lollipop, Lollipop" and then some more classical-styling for the ballet portion.  Taylor did really well because she could see the teacher clearly.  Cassidy, who was a little off to the side, didn't do as well, but was still incredibly cute.  

In the tumbling part, they each did forward and backward somersaults, some leaps, work on the uneven bars, and some tricks on the balance beam.  While not the most agile, they did really well in my opinion.  

At the end they each got a medal, which they proudly wore the rest of the day.  It was a very rewarding and milestone-making moment in their lives, and I was really surprised that they did so well.

I got some movies, but I can't upload them from the camera for some reason.  Here are some pictures though.

All Aboard

Yesterday, we went to lunch with 4 other little friends in order to celebrate our neighbor, Austin's, birthday.  One of the moms recommended this place called All Aboard, and claimed that it was a train themed restaurant.  I figured it would be something fun and different for the girls, and we wanted to be there for Austin anyway.

Well, this was over the top!  You walked in to a giant model train set up with all sorts of extras, like fire trucks, carousel, school house and much more.  The kids can push little buttons on the side of the model to make things go, whistle and turn.  Each and every kid could have happily stayed there for at least 30 minutes.  

Inside, there was an elevated track that ran around the entire restaurant, with a train making continuous loops.  Lots of arcade games geared for the under 5 crowd, and the art was all train related.  Even the bathroom was painted with train stuff, and had a train step stool for the kids to reach the sink.

We sat at the counter on little stools.  The counter was a long, narrow circle, and of course there was another train on that.  That train had 8 cars attached to it, with little diner baskets glued on to them.  It turns out that when your order is ready, they put the food (in baskets) on the train and it brings the food out to your spot.  It was hilarious!  Cassidy kept looking down the track to see where her food was, or at least when it was coming.  The food wasn't wonderful, but because they were having so much fun with all the stimulation, the girls ate well and didn't seem bothered.  We got dessert for the birthday, and it too came out on the train, to a cooky "Happy Birthday" song.  Austin's cupcake was lit with a candle as the train made it's way.  Seriously, could a little boy get any happier?  Taylor enjoyed the frosting on her cupcake and forgot to eat the cake, and Cassidy only ate a few bites of her chocolate ice cream (yay, less mess to wipe up off of her).  

I thought this was a great place and I can't wait to take Dave there.  He'll probably really like it since he's a boy!

While we were inside, it rained about 2 inches (literally) outside, and it was ridiculous driving home.  I really don't get the weather here.  Or why people live in such a place, but that's another story.

Letters

Oddly, yesterday, the girls decided that it was time that they learn how to write letters.  They do not have letter recognition yet (but they're close I think), so it was kind of funny that they wanted to learn how to write them.  

We practiced letter T, letter O, and letter M first (for Uncle Tom, of course), and then we had to try letter C for Cassidy.  They also made letters I and H.  I'll take some pictures of them today and post them (cause that's totally worth looking at right?).  

You might wonder why I didn't just give them A, B, C.  I read somewhere that kids learn the basic, easy to print and recognize letters first, such as T and H.  It makes sense as I can't see them mastering letter S or G any time soon.  

They were so happy to work on it.  They have little notebooks that they love to fill with scribbles  (Dave says they're writing tickets) and pictures.  I am a very proud mom, even though I know that every kid does it at some point.  Still it makes me feel good!

Another Fun Weekend

You know, I feel like I keep doing really inventive stuff during the week with the girls, but we somehow manage to always find something new and different on the weekends too.  Thankfully the weather has finally left the cruel, cold winds of winter behind, and it's starting to get hot.  That helps with the activities around here.

So on Saturday, we had a fun time playing in the yard in the morning, weeding, mowing and trimming.  Amazingly, by 11:00, we were done with that task, so we had the rest of the day to play as soon as the girls finished their nap.  They've been wanting to go on a boat ride almost every weekend since we took them with us to do the Chicago boat cruise in April, and Dave has been wanting to do it too.  Rather than drive to Chicago, or to the pond where we rented row boats last year, we wound up in downtown Naperville where they have an old quarry filled up with mysteriously deep, dark water that you can rent paddle boats.  The girls had on red life jackets and looked adorable.  Brought the camera, but one of the batteries leaked, so no pictures.  Dave had to do all the paddling because I got stuck in the back with no pedals (sob).  The girls had a wonderful time looking for crocodiles, chasing poor ducks and geese, and we even rescued some trash that was floating on the water and threw it away when we were done.

Sunday we tried to go to the Chicago zoo for a change of scenery, but we got off to a late start and decided to go to the regular zoo instead.  The LOVE the zoo!  We saw monkeys, elephants, giraffes, one wild dog, zebras, buffalo and some lots of African water bucks and bush bucks.  The highlight, though, was the wolves.  We've been going to this zoo for over a year, and have never seen them.  But today, they were just right next to the fence, playing in the water and playing together.  It was great.  

In the afternoon, we went to a friend's house to have a little Sunday hang out time/barbecue/play time.  Their friends, Deigo and Brooke are 4 and 1 1/2 years old, and they all get along really well.  It was kind of a scorcher by that time though, and we had to bring out the sprinkler.  That was great for a while, and then the slip and slide came out.  Oh my gosh, the kids could have spent the night on that thing!  They didn't really get the concept of running and doing a belly flop (who can blame them), but they did like to run and leap into the giant puddle-pool that was at the end.  They also found great joy in jumping on top of each other.  It was hilarious.

So Sunday was a blast, and we had a great end to a very nice weekend.  Hard to complain about anything after two such fun days.

I hope your weekend was good, and I'd love to hear about it!