Cassidy and Taylor's Journeys

Photos Added

2010-06-24T16:52:00.004-05:00

Well, as expected here in the Midwest, we kind of went from wet and soggy (aka, Spring) to surprisingly humid and hot. We finished -graduated- from preschool, had a dance recital and a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa Hill. The girls probably couldn't be happier in life.

The end of school was actually kind of anticlimactic. It just kind of ended without any fanfare of note. The teachers were very pleased to have been able to work with both girls throughout the year, and they complimented them immensely on their kindness, ability to get along with others and their eagerness toward learning. I did really appreciate the school, and I do wish that it continued on through at least fifth grade. I would absolutely work to pay for that tuition. I strongly believe in the co-operative spirit and see nothing but positives in that environment. Hope I haven't set myself up for disaster next year!!

Dave and I took a little weekend trip with the girls to San Francisco in early June for our 20th high school reunion. It's amazing that we met there in 1988! The girls got to stay with Grandma Terry and Grandpa Larry while we partied it up with people we literally haven't seen since 1990. My parents took the girls to see Peter Pan the Musical as an adventure. Little did they know what they were getting into! Taylor and Cassidy brought along their Peter Pan and Tinkerbell costumes and they had me fix their hair and add fairy dust for magical emphasis. My poor parents took the girls on the public bus, a cable car and finally to the show. Taylor's Tinkerbell costume had wings. Can't you just see them skipping along sprinkling their fairy dust with my parents chasing after them? I really would have liked to see that. The show was apparently very good for the girls (not so much for the grown ups), and I think it's an experiece that they'll remember forever.

After we returned from our trip, it was time to focus on the upcoming dance recital. The girls had two numbers, totaling about 2 minutes on stage. They had worked very hard for at least 6 months on these two dances, and had a lot more to practice! Their tap number was to the song "Crocodile Rock," and their ballet was to "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch." Just tremendously cute, as you can imagine. I have a soundless video of them that I'll try to upload. (The cable is missing, and I have a lot of transferring to do.....) For tap, they had a bright green leotard with flapper-style strings as a skirt, green elbow-length, fingerless gloves, a feather for their hair and fishnet tights. The ballet was a beautiful light purple leotard with an attached longer tutu and matching bracelets and a scrunchie. Cassidy wasn't too pleased with the purple outfit because purple is one of Taylor's chosen colors, not hers, but she eventually decided that she would be able to wear it anyway.

On Friday, we had a dress rehearsal, the first time they were allowed to wear their outfits. I did their hair up in curls and applied a ton of make-up, as requested by their teacher. I tried false eyelashes but they wouldn't stick. The rehearsal went really well, and the girls -12 in all - did a great job. But Friday night, Cassidy said that her eyes were hurting, and I assumed that, as she was bathing, some of the mascara had run into her eye (never a nice thing). Turns out that she had some sort of horrible reaction to the toner powder I used, and the poor girl wound up with puffy eyes at half mast, red marks all over her face and many horrible blisters from her neck to her eyebrows! No make-up for her on the actual recital day! Poor thing! Taylor claimed to be scared of the make-up, so she didn't have any either! But other than a freaky looking child up close, the recital went really, really well, and both girls did a fantastic job. I was a very proud parent! Cassidy's horrible, open-sore-blister-rash finally went away about 10 days later with the help of benadryl, cortisone cream and ointment.

Our summer activities are now in full swing. The girls have chosen to do gymnastics on Mondays, they ice skate on Tuesdays and have swimming lessons on Wednesdays. We have an annual pass to the zoo, the aquarium and the "dinosaur" museum in Chicago. We also got a pass to the public pool here in town, which is open whenever there isn't lightening around or tornadoes.... I have a gigantic garden this year, and that is taking a lot of time too. We also "white-trashed" it up and put our hard molded plastic pool at the bottom of our play structure's slide so they could pretend to be on some kind of crazy, unsafe roller coaster ride. It's terrifying, and thankfully Cassidy doesn't like it, so only Taylor is likely to break a limb in the process. Next house = pool for sure.

Well, the only thing that's holding us back these days is the obnoxious Midwest weather again. Yesterday we actually had the tornado warning horns blaring, and so much lightening and thunder that the deaf cat hid under a chair. It seems like every time it rains, it's measured in inches, and we are now experts at finding mushrooms in the lawn. My poor garden needs to be replanted to save all the little seedlings. I guess I can console myself by saying that at least it's not snowing.

Added Photos! Hope you enjoyed!

2010-05-11T08:57:00.004-05:00

Okay, a couple of funny things -

First, Taylor created a song while we were on vacation in DC with my parents and brother and his family. Grandpa had the privilege of being her walking buddy that day, and he must have heard this song a zillion times...IN A ROW. Lucky guy! Here goes -

Leaves are green and yellow too,

But they're almost never blue,

Only when you dye them with shampoo!

Ahh, a top 40 in the making. At one point both girls were chanting it over and over. I think even Trevor's kids got into it. Can you imagine the musical joy?

Okay, and then there's this. Cassidy and Taylor were at school yesterday (only one week left of preschool!) and my good friend Amy was the Mommy helper. They were playing some kind of game with dice and ladybugs, Taylor's favorite creature. You had to roll the dice and choose the corresponding ladybugs for some game. Amy was very impressed with both girls' ability to identify numbers, and told me that they were consistent in their correct IDs. She rolled a 5 and said to them that 5 is an odd number. Taylor looked at her and said, "I know Ms. Amy. It is an odd number." Amy asked why or what she meant and Taylor said, "Well, it's an upside down 2, of course, and that's really odd!" Cassidy agreed wholeheartedly.

We are having a wonderful, wet spring. I hope to be able to post more often on this blog. If you're not on Facebook, you really miss a lot. But I intended to use this space as a journal of sorts, and Facebook doesn't let me type this much, so I'll try. Hope all is well with everyone!

First Day of School 2009!

2009-09-10T14:22:00.005-05:00

Cassidy and her friend Madeline in the sandbox

Cassidy working hard to clean up

Taylor painting a still life of flowers

Checking out the water color project

Sensory table with rice

Check out Cassidy's fresh outfit...and her baby.

Story time

Cassidy painting a school bus I think

Taylor painting herself on a rainy day

Cassidy playing with playdough while in costume

Taylor working a difficult puzzle

Cassidy playing teacher

Waiting for school to start

Waving goodbye on the way to school

Making funny faces before leaving for school

Taylor being a cutie

July and August 2009

2009-08-31T18:30:00.002-05:00

Time keeps flying by! Hope this blog entry finds everyone well and happy. We've had a busy summer, but for all that business, I forget all my stellar moments. Maybe I should update more frequently?

At the end of July, we had our lovely trip West to Hawaii and California. Amazingly, it was more humid in Hawaii than in Illinois, but not by much! The girls had a fantastic time swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool, and discovered on the last day there how awesome playing at the beach can be. They dug castles, roads and wrote their names with coral bits. We throughly enjoyed hunting geckos but were very wary of eels and turtles in the ocean. I am happy to report that snorkeling was something of a success in that both girls were able to put their faces in the water and admire all the rainbow fish out there....while floating on a boogie board. Swimming skills improved immensely over the whole vacation, and they just love it. We saw a beautiful luau and drank "lava flow" drinks, mmmmm. We also drove into Kona and took a submarine ride, which was pretty darn cool. We saw two shipwrecks along with lots of fish and starfish. Someday Dave and I will be able to lounge in a chair and simply soak up the rays, but at this point in our lives, we had a lot of little kid adventures around our home base. Always fun, but not very refreshing. Thank goodness for naps, huh?

Sacramento was great. It was such a pleasant surprise to smell the air and see the foothills (which would be considered great mountains in Illinois). I don't know what it is about that smell or those sights, but both of us felt a very strong urge to come "home" someday. We really enjoyed splashing in the pool and discovering a new spray park. The girls got to rock out to two different evening bands at two different spots, and they just loved dancing to the music. My favorite moment was when we drove up to Placerville and had a fantastic horseback riding lesson. The girls had to go into the corral and "rope" their miniature horses, and then dress them, down to picking their hooves. After all that, actually riding the horses was kind of anti-climactic. They, of course, couldn't disagree with me more. Otherwise, we tortured Grandma and Grandpa's cats no end, and definitely decided that the "white" cat does not like children. Poor girls- that cat likes nobody. (Side note, she died recently, so I promise to have only good memories of her from now on.)

We had an adventurous trip home, and I am proud to say that neither Cassidy nor Taylor cried one bit through it all. We were delayed out of Sacramento and had a transfer in Denver that we were afraid we would miss. Well, of course that end was delayed too, so we did just fine with the transfer. The fun part of getting home was that we didn't leave Sacramento until about 6 PM. With the delay in Denver, we got home around 3 AM, I kid you not! Taylor managed to sleep in the car on the way from the airport, but Cassidy actually had to play a bit first. Yikes. I think I might have cried at that point. Oh, and that day was August 4, our anniversary. We went out a few days later. I bought a cheap card at the airport and had it propped up for Dave in the "morning" after we had slept for a bit.

I am sure lots more has happened to Cassidy and Taylor, but I'll post this now so that I can move on. I really do want to add more posts more frequently. Somehow time gets away from me. Sorry!

Weird

2009-07-07T17:27:00.003-05:00

Okay, you know it's summer in the midwest when.....

In July one day can be 98 with 95% humidity and the next day it's barely 70 and overcast

Your vegetable garden grows by inches in a day

It rains over 7 inches in two weeks

Bugs emerge from EVERYWHERE, seriously, EVERYWHERE!!!

Everyone's hair becomes frizzy

People randomly offer strangers "pop"

Okay, well, what really happened today is as follows: We went to Naperville, the neighboring town, to stroll along their parklike river/downtown area. It was nice and warm, and I thought there was a lunch hour concert happening. We couldn't find the concert (missed it by about a mile), but did enjoy walking along the river path and dipping our feet into the fountains. Well, as the girls were enjoying one such splash, I was avoiding bugs. It's not even cicada season but the bugs just are everywhere. One landed on my head, kid you not! So I'm doing the little squeamish dance while the girls are walking around the edge of this circular fountain. Do you think you know where this is going? Yep, I was not the most attentive parent as I avoided the bugs, but NOPE, nobody fell in.....

Well, nobody but the DAMN beetle that managed to DROP INTO MY BRA. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. I thought I had a twisted wire or some thing stuck down there. Fiddle, fiddle, rearrange, fiddle, watch the girls splash total strangers, fiddle. Still ten minutes later, it was bugging me - no pun intended. I reached in and JESUS THERE WAS A BEETLE IN MY BRA! EEEEEWWWW! I missed it, but just felt it on the first attempt, but you bet your you-know-what that I got it the second time. I was sooooo relieved that it didn't take a chunk of my flesh with it when it dropped to the ground. Are you as disgusted as I was?

Given my past experiences with bugs crawling on me and doing such harm as invading my intestines or giving me tick fever, I really have a thing against bugs crawling on me. Funny, as I type this, there's a spider crawling up the wall.

Where can I live that has no bugs? Does such a place exist? Can I still have a garden? Maybe I should invest in some bee keeper clothes.

Well, the kids are fine, thanks for wondering. I thought that this episode in MY life merited some attention. NO, there are no pictures attached of the evil beetle. Sorry. I hope he got stepped on.

Been a little Busy!

2009-06-12T08:09:00.002-05:00

Wow, I haven't posted since the girls' birthday; I am becoming such a slacker. For what it's worth, it is a lot easier to use Facebook, and I do put up new stuff there from time to time. I'll try to be more diligent here.

So a summary of the last few months is needed. The girls finished their preschool in late May. I think it was a great year for them. Each made a lot of friends, separately and together. Swimming lessons have been going great, and our dance recital is this weekend. They agreed recently to give up one baby thing, and chose to stop using sippy cups entirely. Yes, as a result, I have had to clean the carpet a bit more frequently, but they've moved on fine. They are becoming more "mature" in their pretend games, and definitely have favorites, such as playing pirate or monster. Monster, a game involving making weird sounds and chasing people, sometimes scares them, though, so we don't play that one as often!

Some funny moments recently: The girls moved their car seats to the third row in the van. The bonus is that now they can't kick the front seats, which is really, really nice. The drawback is that I can't hand them stuff or help them when they need it without pulling over. They seem to think it's really cool to be all the way back there. I miss my munchkins! The other day, Cassidy whispered a secret to Taylor while in the car and neither of them would share it with me. I felt sooo excluded! Eh, it's happened kind of frequently recently, and I guess I am over not being part of their gang. Or at least trying to be over it. Yesterday, while looking at her favorite bug book, Taylor screamed at me that her tongue was like a chameleon because it changes colors when she eats candy. I thought that was pretty impressive. Cassidy's favorite book is Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" these days. She loves all the poems and could read it daily if I let her. Similarly, we found a "Where the Wild Things Are" book on CD, and both girls just LOVE listening to it in the car. This was our second book on CD, the first being a recent purchase of "Peter and the Wolf," which is an absolute hit. They love being able to pick out the instruments and telling us what they sound like for all classical music now. Taylor's favorite is an oboe and I think Cassidy loves the "strings."

Cassidy has decided that she wants to be a "beautiful lady singer" when she grows up. She has 3 toy microphones. She also wants to be a cheerleader, but doesn't really understand that she can be both, so she chooses the former, as it will make her more famous. She constantly asks to play with her make-up, and can put on quite a pink clown face all by herself. She loves looking gorgeous, and will go through several ensemble changes in a day if I let her. She has also entered a phase (let's hope) of quitting when she doesn't get her way. Yes, it's just lovely. She pouts and cries and will even stomp her feet. She's loud enough that other kids tend to give things up to her, which drives me nuts! Oh well, again, hopefully it's just a phase. Last thing about Cassidy - she just loves her dad right now. It's tremendously sweet. Generally he is the first thing she asks about when she wakes up. She wants to be with him constantly, and is pretty sad - momentarily - when she can't. Daddy's girl for sure.

Taylor has chosen to become an animal doctor when she grows up. She is eagerly awaiting firefly season so she can trap them and keep them until they die. She loves playing with her zillion stuffed animals; generally she has me tie a slip knot around their necks and she takes them on "walks" through the house. She does have a calm about her though, that is very compelling. She will sit and watch a bug endlessly - until she traps it and keeps it prisioner for life. She's into music and the books on CD, and has become a pretty good dancer. I am still amazed that she is able to pick up and keep a beat to music. Her art is also coming along. She likes to paint beach scenes, which are comprised of sandy brown beaches, water, a palm tree and some birds flying in the sky. She still loves to paint rainbows too. Over and over and over! Thankfully, Taylor is not going through the pouting-if-she-doesn't-get-her-way phase, and she's pretty cooperative overall. She can be grumpy, but generally she'll just opt to sit down by herself and pick at her blankey. She likes to pick the fuzz out of her blanket and make little fuzz balls. She has a collection in a box of all the fuzzies she's made. I don't think she'll ever fill it up, and if she ever does, I wonder what will come next....

All in all, we've had a great spring. It would be nice to have some consistently warm weather and a little less rain, but hey, at least it's not snowing right now. Sorry that this post is all over the place. It's hard to summarize almost 3 months of activity while Taylor is singing 2 feet away from me and Cassidy is calling me to come sit and watch Tom and Jerry with her!

Wish us luck for our recital tomorrow! I will definitely post pictures from that!

2009-03-24T14:22:00.003-05:00

For the girls' 4th birthday party, we decided to do a Scooby Doo Mystery party. The girls each invited 5 friends, and it worked out perfectly with 5 from the neighborhood and 5 from school. We got a Scooby pinata, and a ton of goofy decorations from the Party Store, some Scooby Doo themed and some all flower power themed. Of course the girls changed their minds several times after we had begun to plan this party, and wanted, instead, a Horton theme or a princess one, but I rejected those ideas for them.

For the life of me, I couldn't find any Scooby posters for purchase. It turns out that it's a licensed product, so it can only be sold by stores that pay for the licensing (like the party store). I went to Kinkos and asked if they would make color copies of a book for me, and they couldn't do it for fear of being sued. I went to a comic book store, but they didn't have any posters. Finally, I went to Staples, made some transparent copies myself and then used a AA flashlight and blew them up and drew the characters myself. They turned out pretty good too! What a challenge though! And it was pretty funny to see me sitting in the dark with this teeny tiny flashlight trying to draw on butcher paper. I think I thoroughly annoyed Dave during March Madness with that!

So the day of the party, the girls got to dress up in their special new dresses. They were so sweet. They HAD to have the purses that matched, and of course the accompanying headbands. They were really excited and could hardly contain themselves until 11 AM. They got to help do finishing decorations, and wove streamers in the bannisters, which actually looked quite cute. Dave and I were frantically doing last-minute details, like making sherbet punch (gross but good), getting ice for the beverages, vaccuuming and other stupid stuff. By the time the party was officially going, I was happy because I got to finally relax!

Once all the guests were present, we began the party with lunch - Scooby's favorite- pizza! While the kids were finishing up, I asked them where the presents were, and showed them a "letter" written by a villian, saying that the toys had been stolen and that if they wanted them back, they had to play games to earn clues. The kids were totally hooked! Game 1 was Pin the Pizza on Scooby. They loved it, and mostly did great. The first clue was, "The presents might be up, they might be down, but don't worry, they're not out of town." Game 2 was Wrap the Mummy. Dave and my dad sat on little chairs while the kids wrapped them in toilet paper. The paper kept breaking and it was much harder than we thought it would be. But, of course, the mummies got wrapped enough and then they chased, and scared a few, kids through the house. Clue 2 was something like, "Spiders live there, but turn on the light and you won't care." Game 3 was Shaggy, Shaggy, Scooby, ala Duck, Duck, Goose. Even for this game, the kids were very into it. It's hysterical to watch little kids play this, because they forget to sit down in their spots, and just go round and round and round! Clue 3 was something about going down the stairs, which all the kids figured out immediately; the presents were in the basement. So we all trooped downstairs and had opening presents time. The girls got a lot of outdoor toys for spring, some princess stuff and some art goodies. Every present has already been played with, even the ones meant for outside. My parents got them bikes, and they're already very good on them, so much so that I might need a bike just to keep up with them!

Cake came afterward, and was actually very yummy. It was Scooby themed as well, and had a scene of Shaggy and Scooby frightened, as usual, and a Mystery Machine driving away. This was followed by the nutty pinata, which we got to do outside, because the weather was cooperating. Each kid got 3 wacks with a bat, and then we switched to the pull string part of it, and it opened immediately. The mad dash for candy was civilized, at least. Each kid brought me their bag filled with candy and toys, and I put that bag into their goody box. And that, folks, wrapped up the party, or it wrapped up another mystery, as the "gang" would say.

It was exhausting, but totally worth it. The only crying was when the mummies chased and scared a couple of kids. Of course, that was two days ago, and each day since, both girls have asked me if they could have another party "today." Ha! Not quite.

Oh, and I drew out a picture of the mystery machine, taped it onto cardboard and let the kids pose as if they were in the machine. Amazingly, they all really liked this too. Weird, but cute!

Off to NY this weekend for a tourist trip with the girls. I can't wait!

I didn't hate it, Mom!

2009-03-11T15:46:00.004-05:00

Here are some updated pictures. Cassidy is fascinated with Jesse from Toy Story right now, so she's been prancing around in boots with a braid in her hair lately. Taylor loves her red lady bug shirt that says "Don't Bug Me" on it, which you can't see in the picture. They're pretty much still always naked at home; the second they walk in the door usually. It is what it is! Good blackmail pictures in the future?

We've had another busy day here, and we're all quite tired. It's a perfect opportunity for me to update you on our goings on!

Today is ballet day, and the girls did a great job as usual. I have to admit that they seem to be some of the best dancers in their group. While they're not on the beat exactly, at least they know the moves to their dance, unlike a lot of the other girls. They have a recital coming up in June, which they've been working toward since September. They have two numbers in the show, one tap and the other ballet. The tap portion is to the "Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr. and the ballet is to "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. Thankfully, we have until June, because it's would be one crazy performance if it were now!

After ballet, we went to the gym, amid protests from both girls. Apparently, they got some message from somebody that they couldn't go there any more, and they complained as we drove in the car. Ha! I stuck to my guns and told them to buck up essentially, and they seemed okay when we got there. As we were leaving, walking to the car, Taylor, who had been really sad upon arrival, proclaimed (in a loud voice), "I didn't hate it, Mom!" She was so happy at that point. It cracked me up. I wonder where she figured out that sentence. Maybe she realized that I always tell them that they'll "love" something, and she knows her opposites better than I thought she did. It was great.

We haven't been to lunch in ages, so we headed out to this funky Mexican place nearby. The first thing they ordered was sour cream for their chips. They ate gobs of it. I was a little repulsed. But they did eat their quesadillas, and even their rice and beans. Cassidy tried to compliment the waitress on her flashy ear rings, but the lady didn't hear her and just walked away. Poor Cass was sad about that, but she needs to learn to speak up! It's hard for little kids, I know!

Our day wasn't done yet! We headed over to the jumpy place, airtastic.com, and had a bouncy time! Oftentimes when we go there in the later part of the afternoon, we're almost the only ones there. Today it was a little busier than that, and some of the kids were really little, so we had to watch out for them (so as not to jump on the poor guys!). We ran into a group of unsupervised 3 to 6 year olds, and that was sadly devastating. Their moms were gathered around a table at the front, having a pow wow, totally ignoring this group. And of course, they were being really rowdy and rude - one little you-know-what stuck his tongue out at me! At one point, Cassidy and Taylor were frozen to my legs when one of the older boys was blocking another little boy from going where he wanted to, and so of course, he was screaming. Uggg and grrr, it makes me really angry at the parents for not watching their kids better! Regardless, we moved on, and had a wonderful time. So much so that they were exhausted by the end of our hour and sadly requested to go home and rest.

They're watching School House Rock right now and drinking milk. They're snuggled up on the couch, trying to keep warm because it's only about 29 degrees today, and a little cold in the house. Hopefully we can still get out to Costco this afternoon, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Can you think of a better day? Well, up the temperature about 40 degrees first. Seriously, though, what can beat it?

2009-02-24T16:27:00.003-06:00

We have been a very busy group of gals today, and I thought you would like to know all the crazy things we have been up to. Spring is trying to appear, here in the frozen arctic midwest, and we're taking advantage of each and every day that is above 25 degrees outside.
Tuesdays is swimming lessons day with Mrs. Carol. The girls are doing really well in the pool, though certainly are not swimmers at this point. Today the big highlights were going under the water and blowing bubbles from their noses and learning how to dive. "Dive" is what it was called, but it sure looked a lot more like jumping in to me. Today was the first day for that technique, and it was very splashy. I must admit that I am so happy to pay money for the girls to splash somebody else in the pursuit of learning how to swim!
After swimming, we got home and went for a bike ride with our hats, mittens and parkas on. We had to ride in the street because there is still too much snow on the sidewalks (I admit to being one of those damn people that didn't shovel the sidewalk the last time it snowed). The girls learned about the "right" side of the street, as I had to keep getting them over to the side so the cars could go by. It wasn't too scary, and we proved to be a moving speed bump for all the speeders in the neighborhood! I am such a community helper!
After a quick pb&j lunch (Taylor had fruit, cheese and crackers - she doesn't like pb&j), we went to the local stable with some friends to feed the horses carrots and apples. Those horses were so excited to see us, and when they realized that we had treats for them, the foot stamping and whinnying party began! The girls love the stable and are getting very comfortable around horses. I know I should beware of getting them to be too fond of them, because lessons are so expensive, but it's just so cute to see them hug and scratch those giants! My buddy who brought her kids with us was more diligent about breaking out the camera, so if she sends me some pictures, I'll add them here. Frankly, if I have to wear gloves, the camera really gets pushed back to the back burner. I don't like being cold (duh) so I am much less likely to snap pics in this weather. Sorry!
Soooo, after that little excursion, we continued on for a quick hike at a park. Yes, it was muddy and wet and pretty cold (wind chill around 30 today....which means it was technically really warm here for this time of year), but the kids had a blast. We got to cross a giant bridge over a non-frozen river and look for animals and their tracks in the snow. We also left a Chex-Mix trail in case we got lost, which was pretty funny. Half the Chex-Mix was on the ground, and the other half got eaten. We investigated a fallen tree that was hollowed out and pondered what could live inside of it (bats, wolverines-my choice- snakes and bears were mentioned), climbed or attempted to climb some trees, and splashed in a zillion really muddy and somewhat icy puddles. As an added bonus to this activity, I stripped them to just their shirts and undies and let them go home in the car that way! Sadly, the back of my car is a gross, wet mess right now. It'll dry...
I figured they'd be tired after such a busy day, but when we got home, they played ??? flying super hero off the stairs (my uncle Steven apparently jumped from the top landing doing the same game and broke his leg. Luckily the girls just go from the 4th or 5th step. So far...) for about 45 minutes while I cleaned up Polly Pocket paraphernalia with the vaccuum cleaner. That always makes me happy.
And that was our day. Tomorrow we have errands to run and dance class to attend. Not nearly as fun, that's for sure. We're beginning to organize for the big birthday party in the end of March. The theme is Scooby Doo, though they keep asking for a Horton Hears a Who party. They have it in their minds that every birthday party is a dress-up party, and Cassidy wants to go as the Mayor from Horton. I can only imagine what Taylor wants to be! Probably a speck.
Thanks for reading! As always, I will try to be more diligent about the udpates. Feel free to comment, you sleuths who find me through random searches! I'd love to hear from you!

Taylor funny!

2009-02-17T14:39:00.003-06:00

Dave was with us for lunch today. I was encouraging Taylor to eat as she was slowing down. As she slumped in her seat, she said, "My teeth are too tired to eat, Mom."
I have never heard that one before. Thought it was worthy of sharing. They're definitely getting more creative!
Sorry it's not longer! All's well. Someday winter will end, right????

Signs of Change

2009-01-22T09:57:00.001-06:00

I have recently noticed a change occurring in the girls' behavior. It is a sign of maturity, and, sadly, it has nothing to do with me.

The girls have always been pretty good about sharing and playing together. As we spend more time at school, other parents have told me how impressed they are with Cassidy and Taylor's ability to make good, lasting friendships as well as play with others without arguments or tantrums. Yesterday a friend of mine said that her singleton son has never had such relationships in his life, and that he talks about his "friends" Taylor and Cassidy all the time. I think it has to do with the fact that they've always been together and that they're happy little girls. I don't know.....

So lately they have been making up little scenarios and games to play together. As I type this, they're carrying around little animals in their music boxes and pretending to do all sorts of things with them. For instance, they're now "exercising" on Dave's weight bench while the babies are playing in the day care center. Now Taylor is giving her babies stuffed animals as pets. I am not invited to play, but I am sure they'd let me. These games can go on for up to an hour easily. They just keep expanding on them and changing what they're doing. It's very entertaining to watch, that's for sure.

Their language during these games is hysterical. They practice the words they're learning while playing. "Unusual" is one word I have heard often this week, along with "responsibility" and, thankfully, "awesome" comes out every now and then. Of course, I also heard "oh crap" from Cassidy the other day, so we had to have a discussion about how that was not nice to say and that Mommy shouldn't say it either!

But they're definitely changing, and while it is absolutely lovely to see, it's kind of sad. I see other moms with their babies while we're out at classes and such, and it's nice to reminisce about those good old days. I don't EVER want to do it again, but man were they sweet. Lucky for me they still are. Most of the time.

Oh, and the weather still sucks. Going on 3 weeks of below freezing temperatures.

OKAY THE NEXT PART DIDN'T WORK. I'LL HAVE DAVE TRY TO UPLOAD THE VIDEO WHEN HE COMES HOME. SORRY. IT WAS FUNNY. Here's a video of them playing. Sorry I left the TV on in the background. It's on Sid the Science Kid on PBS, so at least it was educational. Basically here's the scene: The girls are playing in their doll house and Taylor has Mariposa Barbie and Cassidy starts out with Eve but eventually switches to Wall-E.

Taylor: Cassidy, robots don't go in elevators

Cassidy: Oh, I didn't know!

Did you know that robots don't have ears?

Taylor: Nope! And they don't have mouthesss.....

(as she pulls Barbie out of the elevator) Ahh, my arms!

Later...

Cassidy as Eve: I am tired. Where do you have a bed for a robot?

Cassidy then puts Eve down and picks up Wall-E and takes him up the stairs

Taylor as Barbie/Mariposa falls down

Cassidy: Sorry Pocahontas!

Taylor: No she's Mariposa

Cassidy as Wall-E crashes to the floor

Swimming

2009-01-13T12:49:00.003-06:00

Here's a picture of a recent snack time at our house. We built a snow fort and a snow girl on the back deck.

Last week we had swimming evaluations. That's right, when it was snowing and well below freezing, the girls went swimming. Indoors obviously, but still, when you live here, you do begin to do crazy things in the winter. They both were so excited that they were ready to leave 2 hours before we needed to go.

Cassidy was able to put her face in the water, blow bubbles, float on her stomach and back by herself with the teacher. She did really well, and I was quite surprised at how much she did on her own. The teacher was complimentary and said that Cassidy would be in the Red level, not the white, which is their equivalent of beginner. Yay, Cassidy! I was nervous about Taylor going and getting the same level because she has been a more hesitant swimmer than Cass. I asked the teacher about it, and she said that it would be no problem for them to stay together. Well, Taylor kicked the water's you-know-what, and did everything Cassidy did, and got the same evaluation. Yay, Taylor!

So today was their first lesson with Ms. Carol. She's a nice, big, older lady who seemed to have a lot of experience and patience for little monkeys. The girls were beyond excited and again were ready 2 hours before we needed to be there. I had to go to the (cold) parents' waiting area, but I had a good view of them swimming. They were able to swim to their teacher on their tummies, and her goal seemed to be to get them to float rather than to swim entirely under the water. They used noodles too, for tummy swimming and back swimming, which I had never seen. They also got to use something that looked like a dumb bell with styrofoam on the ends to help them learn to put their faces in the water while kicking. Taylor got a little scared at that because she was expected to swim a long way (the width of the pool), and she did cry. Thankfully the lesson was almost done by that point, and Taylor recovered enough to do the last activity with the other 3 kids. They got to jump into the water and swim to the teacher and back to the wall by themselves. Cassidy, insanely eager, jumped in before the teacher was ready, and had to get back out to wait her turn, but she wasn't phased - hey, she got to jump twice instead of just once!

All in all, it was amazing, and I am a very proud mom. They loved it and can't wait until next Tuesday. I am happy that in the dead of winter, I don't have to get in with them this way. We'll probably have to go back to the community pool one of these days, but until it's above 20, I am absolutely refusing to get in the water regardless of whether the pool is inside or out (well, outside all the pools are frozen so that's not really a choice...).

Maybe I will remember to add pictures next week. Don't you want to see two frozen little swimmers? It's kind of funny to see swimming suits and snow boots.

Hawaii, look out! We'll be ready to snorkel this summer!

2008-12-24T08:36:00.003-06:00

Playing at the children's museum
Taylor pretending to be a koala
Cassidy in a tree at Golden Gate Park
All 4 kids at the zoo
Cousin love!
I suck for not updating this in over a month! Sorry. I know you're all hainging on by a thread, biting your nails in anticipation of my next witty report. Guess I've been a little busy! Excuse me!

So in early December, we flew out to San Francisco for 5 days. My brother flew in from Tokyo with his family, and we all stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The house was indeed full, but thankfully there was still a little room to run around. My brother has two kids, both boys, ages 5 and 2.5, and great playmates for Cassidy and Taylor. Great fun was had by the kids, playing trains, going to the park and trying to induce a heart attack in poor Rosie the dog. We got to go to the zoo and the new California Academy of Sciences, which included an aquarium, a natural history section and a rainforest biodome. We also got to see a 3-D movie about bugs there. Kio, the 5 year-old, introduced the girls to the great show "Bob the Builder," which they have not seen since returning home, but which was a great distractor when the adults needed a break. Taylor and Cassidy introduced them to Scooby Doo, which was also a great hit.

We got a nasty little flu bug this month too, which traveled to each of us, and spaced itself out so that it lasted pretty much over a month. I think the girls are a little traumatized still, and sometimes ask if a particular food will hurt their tummies. It's kind of sad. Needless to say, I need to rent a carpet cleaner very soon to get the smells out! Gross, sorry.

Our Christmas tree was purchased on December 16th. It's holding up pretty well. Dave was out of town when we got it, and I thought it quite comical that I had to untie it from the roof of my car by myself in the SNOW and get it inside. Surprisingly it was only about 3 inches too tall, so I hacked that off with a bread knife. The girls were sooo excited for it that they immediately wanted to decorate with all the princess ornaments we've been collecting. Mind you, the tree was FROZEN SOLID from being outside. It took several hours for all the branches to come down. That did not stop them however, from decorating the bottom third of the tree. I put up the lights, starting at the top, but ran out about 2/3 of the way down, so it was a really goofy looking thing at bed time that evening. The bottom had a gazillion little princesses and animals on it, and the top had pretty lights. There was no intermingling of the two designs. The girls were so proud and happy with their work too! Thankfully, part of the joy of having a Christmas tree is that you can redecorate it over and over; the ornaments and lights have since been more evenly dispersed.

Both girls are missing their grandparents quite a bit. They talk about them non-stop, and still scream hello to any passing airplane, assuming that Grandma and Grandpa are on that plane, and soon will arrive on our doorstep. It does make it special to see them, but it would be nice if they visited a little more often!

Sledding has been lots of fun this year. Cassidy loves to go out and sled on her stomach like a little penguin on an ice floe. Taylor enjoys crawling up the hill and then falling over. I finally smartened up and brought a chair to the top of the hill so I can sit and watch them rather than lean against a snow-covered rock. Maybe this year we'll get over to the Big Hill in Naperville that's about 5 times as long as our back yard one. I am sure they'll do fine on the ride, but I dread having to drag them back up the hill.

The weather sucks. It's been snowing for 2 days now, and prior to that, it was insanely cold. And by cold I mean negative. Negative zero. Before wind chill. The wind chill had it below -35 for 3 straight days. That's not nice at all. It was really really cold. It does make me appreciate a 22 degree day though, I'll grant that! We also had a nasty ice storm about a week ago, maybe two weeks now, and I tried to shovel the driveway (while sick) and totally failed. It was like lifting icebergs off the pavement. So now there's ice on my sidewalk and front walk that will not be gone until the weather warms......in May. Sorry, I'll shovel the snow on top of the ice, but that's the best I can do.

Taylor has taken to twirling her hair when she's tired. It's very cute, but produces some crazy knots. She has had the brunt of the illnesses, including an ear infection, but she's still a trooper. She keeps asking me when we can go outside to look for bugs. She recently found a pile of ladybugs that she ensnared and let die, and now she plays with them. Odd, huh? She's still a sensitive little monkey who doesn't always seem to want to fit in.

Cassidy wants to be the big girl all the time. She tells Taylor that she is the bigger one (they're still the same size), and Taylor just cries and cries. Cassidy is a total princess, though, and wears crowns and jewels whenever possible. She recently learned the term "fall in love" and she tells me what she's fallen in love with at any given moment. She loves to talk about who she's going to marry - still me most of the time, but sometimes Prince Eric- and she always makes her Barbies dance together and go to balls. It's very entertaining.

Well, I suppose I should get back to my supervisory duties. They recently learned how to climb up onto the counters by themselves. When emptying the glasses cupboard, I feel I should be there to intercept anything breakable!

Happy holidays everyone! Hope you have a great season, and please send warmth!

Ode to King

2008-11-11T08:23:00.004-06:00

Dave has a sick sense of humor sometimes.

He recently thought it would be great to teach the girls about Steven King's The Shining. I remember when I was pregnant that he was terribly excited to dress them up as the twin girls that Danny sees in the hallway. He also expressed tremendous delight at the prospect of freaking them out when their teeth fell out by putting dried pieces of corn on their pillows and screaming that they'd lost all their teeth. He thought that would be funny. Strange, huh?

Okay, so back to The Shining. They now can curl their index fingers and growl "Red Rum, Red Rum!" Dave is delighted. I think it's beyond bizarre. So this weekend during lunch, Taylor had just tried to scare me and then began to sing, SING "Red Rum, Red Rum, Red Rum," for about 5 minutes! Grrrrreat.

Thanks to Dave for helping the girls develop their weird side. I kind of thought it would be me, but Dave has me beat for a long time with this one.

Devistation

2008-11-11T08:12:00.003-06:00

Dear Sesame Street,

You have crushed my 3 year-old daughter. She has recently discovered your show, but can no longer watch it. We were having so much fun learning with your lovely characters, especially Ernie and Bert. Until yesterday.

I was in the kitchen cleaning up the girls' breakfast dishes. Suddenly, Cassidy yelled at me, "Mommy!" and then started crying. Rushing in to the playroom, I hugged her and asked what had happened. She pointed to the television and uttered incoherently. Clearly, something quite terrible had happened.

After she had calmed down enough to tell me what was going on, she said, "Mommy, 'C' is for 'cookie,'" in a voice filled with devastation. Not understanding where she was going with this, I agreed with her, somewhat pridefully, I must admit. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. Then she said, "'C' is for cookie! Not CASSIDY."

Yep, we've lost our love for Sesame Street. Mean old Cookie Monster has crushed her intellectual world. Damn his love of all things cookie.

We'll miss you, Ernie and Bert!

Spooky Around Here

2008-10-26T14:53:00.003-05:00

Cassidy Trick-or-Treat!
Taylor with a genuine smile
Taylor at the arboretum

When Dave and I came out here in 2006 to look for a place to live, we came near the end of October. Our realtor must have thought we were wacky because we took more delight in the Halloween decorations than we did in some of the houses we saw. Neither of us remembers California as being over the top when it came to Halloween, which is exactly what happens here. Seriously, it rivals Christmas in the audacity of the decorations. So we've decided to jump on this bandwagon. It helps that Taylor and Cassidy think Halloween is almost as cool as Disneyland.

So Cassidy and Taylor have gone round and round regarding what costumes they would be for Halloween this year. We had choices of blue butterflies, Buzz Lightyear, a monkey, a dog, a mermaid and more. They've matched the previous 3 years (7 months: Jack-o-Lanterns, 19 months: flowers, 32 months: chicks). There was no way this was happening this year. So while we thought about costumes, I also decided to re-create a cardboard box decoration for our front yard similar to the one I did for their birthday last March. Crazy times, I tell ya! Oh and we have about 10 pumpkins from our garden decorating our front landscaping. It's actually kind of pretty. Back to the costumes, though....

We decided to go to the Disney Store and see their costumes last week. In my good fortune, I waited until costumes went on sale! Cassidy had kind of determined that she wanted to be Peter Pan, so I knew I could go there for that costume. Taylor was still undecided, but was kind of thinking Wendy or still a blue butterfly. Cassidy's costume is very cute, but unfortunately they didn't have the matching hat and sword, so I'm still working on that. We convinced Taylor to be Tinkerbell, and she thinks its fabulous. Her wings even light up! Oh, and again, just so we're proud of my shopping: 40% off!

So THIS weekend the Halloween madness has begun in earnest. Lots of people have had their decorations up for about 2 weeks already, but the parties have all waited until this weekend and this upcoming week. We had 3 events planned for this weekend, and we have -phew- just completed two.

Yesterday we went to the Arboretum for the "Trick or Trees" party. We actually ran into a couple of people that we know, which was kind of fun. There were story tellers, games, food, and, of course, candy at this little event. The girls really enjoyed making crafts. Cassidy made a little bat and Taylor made a Tootsie-pop ghost and a googlie-eyed leaf creature. They also got to take home a pumpkin each. The weather was somewhat chilly, and we did have to wind up putting on their jackets, but the costumes were still cute, and really, nobody cared anyway. The girls did love seeing all the other kids and some adults in costume too. They kept trying to follow and touch this adult that was dressed as a giant turtle. They thought he was a dinosaur. All told, it was a lot of fun. The weather, unfortunately, prevented me from taking a ton of pictures.

So today we had three events to choose from. Because it was Sunday (holy day and all), nothing started before noon (ug), and we chose the one that started promptly at noon. The girls got to go to downtown Naperville and go store to store for trick or treating. It was a balloon effect..... We turned the corner and there were a few other kids in costume, then we came out of a store and there were a few more, then a dozen more, then a football team's worth of kids, and on and on until there were more kids than cars driving around. It was nuts! The girls couldn't believe that their bags seemed to be bottomless pits in terms of how much they could hold! It was funny at the end to see them trying to lug these trick or treat bags along with them because they were simply stuffed with goodies. Taylor was so happy she forgot how to talk and would only squeak and point. Cassidy, queen of the 'pick-me-ups,' was able to walk the entire time. Almost every single store was open for the event and to lure people into the shops. I can only think of the few parades we've been to in the area that brought more people out. Amazingly, the girls held back from eating the candy. They asked a few times, but they actually listened to us when we said they'd be better off waiting. I am sure it was difficult for them because the other kids all seemed to have red, oozy candy drool falling from their chins.

Halloween is still 6 days away. We have a party on Wednesday and then the actual "holiday" ahead of us. I swear I should call the dentist now for next week. It's gonna be gross!

(Oh and then we got home, they munched on tons of candy, and then it started hailing. I forsee lots of moaning about the weather again soon. Be warned.)

Grandma and Grandpa Hill Visit

2008-10-17T07:21:00.002-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa Hill arrived yesterday evening. The poor girls were so anxious all day! And they were actually kind of mad that G&G weren't waiting for them when they were done with school. Let me tell you that it was a long 3 and a half hours between getting home and having them finally arrive!

There was lots of screaming and jumping around when their little car pulled up, and they were just so happy to see them. I guess they're finally at an age where they recognize their grandparents because they allowed themselves to be picked up and hugged repeatedly.

Cassidy and Taylor also refused to let ME read them bedtime stories, and insisted that Grandpa do it instead. I mischievously picked out a tongue twisting book, Fox In Sox, for him to read, which is an impossible little tale. I think he was more perturbed by the Strawberry Shortcake book that Cassidy picked for him though. It's Berry dorky.

Today's adventure is taking both grandparents to the girls' school. They're going to be the helpers! Should be very exciting, and I know at least the older part of my family will have a nap this afternoon!

I'll edit this post later with more updates about how it went and continues to go.

Auto Shop

2008-09-30T10:15:00.002-05:00

Okay, I know that I said I would write about the girls adventures and journeys, but I need a place to gloat for my accomplishments today. And Cassidy and Taylor helped me a little. Well, they played in Dave's car and didn't spill their water bottles while I worked. That's good, right?

So my car has been making weird sounds. It kind of creaks now, like a little old lady. But it's only 6 years old, and with just over 50,000 miles. No reason for such sounds in my opinion. Then the auto doors stopped working, and that just kind of sucked. Dave began browsing used minivans for me.

On Thursday, we actually made it into the car ahead of schedule for school, which, frankly, NEVER happens; we're usually hauling ass to get to school. So we're all strapped in, snacks at the ready, and the car won't start. It made a horrible clicking sound but just wouldn't or couldn't get itself going.

So I panicked about getting the girls to school. Like they were going to miss a great lecture or something. Duh. But my tremendously generous neighbor let me use her van and off we went, and were not even that late! I got my little errands done, all the while thinking about what mechanic would be able to come and rescue my car.

On Thursday afternoon, I asked a different neighbor (Ron, who happens to be married to Nancy) if he would come and give me his diagnosis. He has about 5 cars and 3 fancy motorcycles at his house, and apparently some other "projects" at other locations, so I knew I'd asked for a good opinion. He asked me to start the car while he looked under the hood. Click-click-click-click. Then he asked me to honk the horn. That's when the car demons came out. My windshield wipers and blinkers started going! Yikes. I almost jumped out of the car. Ron said that it was definitely the battery, an easy fix. He even recommended where I should go to get a new one.

Ron clearly didn't know that I missed Auto Shop in school. He didn't know that I NEVER saw my parents work on cars. Shoot, I only learned to put oil in a car AFTER I broke a car for not putting oil into it. Ron generously offered to do it for me, but he had very limited time, and I couldn't get the battery until later that night.

I was brave even without his help, and thought I'd give it a try on Friday morning. Dave had left me his car, and I figured I could work on it while the girls were at school. I brought up the entire toolbox (contents: lots of picture hooks, some leftover ikea screws, a hammer and a few screwdrivers) and opened the hood. The girls were stoked that they got to come out and play in the garage. I also brought the phone and put it within arms reach, thinking that after I got electrocuted I might need to call 911.

I was filthy within seconds of putting the wrench on the bolt. How does such a thing happen? I was like Becky the Mechanic, probably had smudge across my forehead. I got the positive side off first (woo hoo). I was in a quandary as to what to do with the little hook-up thing that I had taken off because I was pretty sure that if it touched the battery while I was touching it, I would die instantly. I sort of tucked it away and got it stuck enough that it didn't shoot back into place. The negative side unfortunately gave me trouble. Apparently it was a little corroded. I gave up on that and started working on the third, and last bolt holding the battery in place. It was in a difficult spot and a wrench would have been worthless to me, but luckily, I, Becky the Mechanic, thought to use my handy dandy socket wrench. I even figured out how to make it do reverse clicking so it would loosen rather than tighten the bolt! Well, as a result, it took mere seconds to get that one off (and I didn't lose it either). But back to the negative connector thingy. I had to -eek- chip and pry at it with a screwdriver. More images of death. Especially since the battery cover said that when fiddling with batteries to always wear protective glasses to avoid chemical smattering that could leave one sightless. But I prevailed and managed to get it off!

Car batteries are surprisingly heavy. And disgustingly dirty.

So the girls and I loaded into the Saab and headed to Blain's Farm and Fleet before school on Friday afternoon. I had researched Sears, Pep Boys, Costco and Blain's, and found that they had the cheapest batteries. I brought the old, yucky one with me so that I wouldn't get death threats from my garbage man. The automotive department was easy enough to find, just pass all the tractors and tools, and there it was! A nice young lady brought me out a fresh battery and took the grungy one. She wrote me up a sales slip and directed me back to the check-out area to pay. Yay, that part was soo easy!

I was stressed about how much it would cost to recycle a battery and buy a new one. We're trying to keep to a very tight budget these days, and an 80 dollar battery was not accounted for. Well, the young man took my sales slip and rung me up. He even asked his neighbor-checker if he had the right code. Then he told me my total. $7.51. How the hell did that happen? I looked at him for about 5 seconds and then hit enter on my little ATM thing and sprinted out as fast as I could go with two kids and a heavy, but clean battery. I know, I know, I should have corrected him, and maybe someday I'll go back, but I was in a hurry (school) and I was kicking butt on the whole Becky the Mechanic persona, so I didn't feel bad, I felt justified....

So here's where it gets kind of sad. Well, shortly.

I got the girls to school and wound up back at home. I actually motivated myself enough to REINSTALL the battery. And I didn't die! I tightened those bolts like there was no tomorrow too. Believe me, it's gonna be hard in five years to get that thing out. I got in the driver's seat and turned on the ignition switch. Can you believe it actually started? And sounded normal? And there were no freaky smells coming out of the vents? Becky the Mechanic rules the Chrysler world!

I figured I could switch the car seats back to the van to go pick up the girls from school, but first I had to shut the hood of the car. Ummm, it wouldn't shut. I swear I looked for leftover tools all over that dirty little engine. There were none to be found! I basically jumped on my hood, and it still wouldn't shut. Well ain't that a kick in the mechanic's pants. I couldn't drive my fixed car because I was too dumb to get the damn hood closed. Maybe I was not meant to be a mechanic....

Dave tried. He couldn't do it. We drove around town all weekend in the Saab. On Monday I took it to my local oil change place. They got it shut.

Believe me, though, I told them that I had changed the battery myself.

Dental visit

2008-09-15T14:12:00.002-05:00

Apparently I have been doing a good job in the oral hygiene department. I wouldn't have thought so as I seem to SUCK at getting tartar off of their teeth. I do try to get a good brushing in once a day, and they like to brush in the morning before we go out, but I didn't see sparkling, pearly whites.

The girls had a dentist appointment today with a new dentist (their last appointment was at about 20 months, so I was behind!). It was a pediatric dentist that actually sees patients up to age 18 I think. The funky thing around here is that ALL of the dentists want to see the kids by themselves - no Mom in the room during the cleaning and exam. I thought that was very strange, but whatever.... all the moms I talked to seemed to think that this was an okay concept, so I tried to not freak out about it. I figured they'd call me when one of the girls bit the hygienist.

I think it helped that they went in together, but I really have no idea what happened afterward. I had told them that since they were big girls now, mommies weren't allowed to come with them. So off they skipped with the hygienist who threw over her shoulder to me as she walked away, "Oh, they'll be done in about 40 minutes." Good god, they're only 3. How can a dentist appointment for 40 teeth take that long? And I couldn't see them, and I had never been there before. I mean, who did I just send my kids off with??? Hmmm, I was suspicious and nervous, so I texted Dave at work and annoyed him in order to distract myself.

So about 45 minutes later, they called me back to meet the dentist and hear a report. Yay! I was so pleased to hear that the teeth looked good and that we were doing a great job! He even said that they spit well so there should be no problem with using fluoride toothpaste (oops, been doing that for a long time now!). He did say that the gap would probably correct itself when they get their permanent teeth. He's optimistic! Taylor apparently has a cross bite that isn't too bad and will probably correct itself too. Especially if she stops chewing on her pacifiers (used only to get to sleep).

We get to start flossing now. That should be really fun. Oh well, they see me do it every day, so maybe it won't be too freaky.

When we got home I made sure to load them up with rainbow pancakes for lunch. Yummy! (Pancakes with m&m's in them)

Sorry no pictures. I wasn't allowed back there!

Funny or sad

2008-09-09T09:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning, Cassidy and Taylor both said to me that I should go to work and Daddy should stay home with them. Nice, huh?

When I asked them if they would be sad without me, Cassidy said not for a long time, and then reiterated that I should leave and Daddy should come home.

So later, I took them swimming. 'Cause I'm a nice mom.

"First" School Day

2008-09-04T17:39:00.005-05:00

In the kitchen area
Taylor painting
Cassidy at the carpentry area
Taylor working at the chalkboard
Stomping their feet to a song
Playing at the rice table

Okay, first an explanation of the title.....

Today was the first day of school, but it was kind of like orientation day. I went with the girls, who were joined by about half of their class (of 14 total). So it technically was the first day, but next week will be the real test....

So it is truly a free-for-all in there! The kids were basically welcomed and then invited to find their name tags and hang up their coats (it was raining cats and dogs). The kids were then encouraged to "go and play" where ever they wanted. Their choices were beyond numerous. They had a water table with boats, a rice table with digging toys, a painting station, a dress-up area, a kitchen play area, a coloring and cutting station, a story time area, blocks and animals, puzzles, play dough and more! The girls chose first to play in the rice, which I found funny because, of course, that's an activity that we do frequently at home. I urged them to try something new, and they went to the kitchen, also an activity that we play a lot at home! No big deal, there was new stuff in both areas, so it was fun.

There are two new kids in their class, one of whom was there with them today. His name was John, and he enjoyed playing with them at the kitchen area. His language did not seem as fluid as the girls, but who am I to compare! They enjoyed playing together and didn't hit or bite each other! The other kids spent a lot of time at the rice table and then most of the boys found the blocks and played cars and blocks for the first hour. It was funny how there were initially no girls over in that part of the classroom. The nature/nurture thing is pretty apparent!

After a while, the girls discovered the painting area. Taylor was IN HEAVEN. Cassidy was happy too, but Taylor just loves to paint, and I haven't broken out the easel almost all summer. I was very proud of her when she yelled across the room to me that she made orange using yellow and red! Between the two of them, they came home with about 15 paintings....

About an hour into class, the teachers split the class up and some kids were "invited" to go downstairs to play. They were given tickets to go, and had to carry the tickets with them downstairs (and then back upstairs when we returned). Cassidy and Taylor were invited to go, and off we went. The other half of the class switched later, though the teachers told us that if a child does not want to go, they're not forced.

So downstairs is more of a gross motor room. They have a little climbing gym area along with some big toys to play with . There is also a little carpentry area, more blocks and some music toys (so it's the gross motor and loud, bang-y department). The theme downstairs was summertime, and they had beach towels out, a boat to sit in, and cute music to listen to in the background.

The girls both wanted to take their shoes off, which is kind of a natural habit for them at this point. We never wear shoes in the house, and all their little gym classes have had them take the shoes off. Well, not at school! That's going to be a hard habit to break, I think.

The highlight of downstairs was fishing. The girls had fishing poles and a plethora of fish to try to get. The poles had a magnet on the end, and they could "catch" the fish that way. They just thought it was a blast to sit in the boat and fish. We do a similar activity at home, but they don't have a boat. Instead, they pull up their little chairs to the step separating the kitchen from the family room, and pretend to fish that way. Anyway, lots of pics of the fishing activity. At one point, their little classmate, Devin, joined them, and they shared the boat with him. Such good sharers!!!

Cassidy enjoyed working with real tools in the carpentry area. She got to use a real hammer and nails and even a vice! Earlier in the day, they had helped me put together an IKEA piece of furniture by hammering some dowels into pre-drilled holes, so getting to do it at school was like icing on the carpentry cup cake.

Both girls enjoyed climbing on the little play structure and zipping down the slide as well.

We went back upstairs after about half an hour and found the play dough area. The girls were very happy making shapes with cookie cutters for what seemed like a really long time (I was tired by this point!). The dough was fresh and new, and very soft, so it was fun to play with. Apparently they have a great recipe, and I can't wait to get it and start making it at home. The other kids rejoined the group upstairs and it was almost time for snack. Due to the rain, there would be no playing outside today.

Snack was a great milestone for the girls. It was a modest serving of string cheese and orange juice or water. Preschool is big on kids helping themselves as much as possible, so they got to pour their own juice or water. Neither girl has EVER liked orange juice, and I tell you, they must have each had at least 3 cups of it! So it was either the pouring or the witnessing of others enjoying it that got them to drink it. Regardless I am happy because it's an option besides apple juice!

When the kids were done snacking, they were asked to gather at the carpet area for book-reading and singing. By this time, all of the parents in the room were very tired, and we all just watched from the back of the room rather than joined our kids at the carpet! The teachers led them in several songs, all of which incorporated movements. All of the kids had a great time in this activity, and were giggling and laughing happily.

That was pretty much the entire two and a half hours. The girls instantly fell asleep on the drive home, but woke up when we got home so that they could play even more. They were asleep by 8 this night (insert smiley mom and dad here). I think they're going to love it, and they've seen that it's not scary in any way. Hopefully they won't have too many issues! I can't wait to find a gym and get some serious working out done... or at least go shopping on my own! Yay, school!

Catching up

2008-08-27T08:32:00.006-05:00

You'd think I would have a lot to say, given that I haven't been updating this blog very much this summer. I guess it's been kind of a whilrwind of mini-adventures ever since we got back from vacation. Nothing very outstanding, but still some notable moments anyway. So here goes:

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I were outside in the front yard talking to a neighbor who has a son who is about 2 and a half. I offered him a fire truck that the girls no longer need or play with. Well, you can imagine how well kids react to seeing their toys going away. Not immediately, but shortly into our hang out time on the driveway, Cassidy snatched up the truck and barreled inside. Then she proceeded to shut the door. The poor little boy (who doesn't talk much) was looking from his mom to the door and pointing in a very desperate manner. I looked around to see where she was and what she was doing and saw her peeking through the front door window, watching to see if the boy would come after her, or if she had safely rescued the truck. Her look was perfect, very stealthy and suspicious. Needless to say, the truck eventually got back to the little boy and all was well in the world.

Last week we went to the zoo (gotta get my zoo trips in before the weather turns!). Within the zoo, they have a little play area with lots of hands on activities such as a pretend vet's clinic and many areas where kids can pretend to do grown up zoo things (like sweep... huh?). They also have a face painting area using oil pastels. Essentially it's a free for all, and the big kids and kids with moms who care always come out looking really cute. They're supposed to transform themselves into animals that they've seen at the zoo that day. Cassidy asked me to make her a tiger (so I cared a little), and she just thought she was the best little tiger around. Taylor, on the other hand, wanted to be a big girl and do it herself. So she found a lovely sky blue color and went to work. Her whole face became blue. I mean she must have been there for at least 20 minutes, getting every contour of her face. It was really funny. She decided, after she was done, that she was a fish. Sadly, she didn't do the fish lips thing, but I do have a pretty picture!

Week of injuries around here this week. I finished up the girls bath recently and put them in long pant pajamas (cause that evil weather has already started to get chilly). Dave was on the stairs coming up when Taylor decided to slide down the stairs on her bottom. They both love to do this when they have long pants on, pajamas or otherwise. So they made a game of it, and Cassidy soon joined them. Yay, woo hoo! Well, eventually I got ready to read them some stories and Taylor was complaining that her stomach was hurting. I figured she probably had a stitch in her side from all the up and down on the stairs. So I am reading the story ("Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs") and Taylor is actually whimpering. Yep, my first reaction was annoyance! Then when she kept doing it, I thought she might actually be hurt. So I look at her tummy, and she has a GIANT rug burn all around her belly button! Oh gosh. It looked awful. We did some minor first aid and covered her with Care Bears band aids and a dose of Tylenol and she made it through the night. It still looks terrible! Cassidy's injury happened just yesterday. Suffice it to say that she is NOT allergic to bees. But why do they always have to sting the armpit? She was throwing sand at the bee, so she got what she deserved. Hope the bee didn't die.

School starts next week. I'll try to update you on that a little later. I hope it's a successful first day!

We're still waiting for Samson to die so that we can get a dog. I do love that cat, but jeez, it's been 17 years already! If we don't get a dog, maybe I'll just get a fish. They don't live too long do they?

Well, we're off swimming this morning and then a visit to Chicago to get Dave and go to the Aquarium to say goodbye to the dolphins and whales before they begin renovations. See, little adventures.....

July.....Part 1

2008-08-04T07:34:00.006-05:00

What a month July was! It really came and went, and as you can see, I didn't write one thing until now! Vacation will do that to you!

We had a great fourth of July right here in Aurora. We started the day with a parade, which the girls loved (mostly because about every other entry threw out lollipops) because there were tons of flags and even some horses. Our friends from down the street went with us as well, so lots of playing and hanging out with buddies for both kids and adults. Later in the day we went to a fair across town, totally unrelated to the parade. The girls tried some rides, but mostly watched as the "big kids" screamed with either joy or terror. They had a hot air balloon show, which was fantastic. Both girls really liked the purple balloon and were sad when it sailed out of sight. We tried to stay for the fireworks show at the fair, but it was simply too hot. So we finally came home and had a great display from our back yard. Apparently fireworks are some sort of legal here in Illinois (not sure about the rules), and it seems like almost every native tries to blow up the world during the week before and the week after the fourth. Loved the show though, and we heard and saw them several days later too.

A bonus to living in the midwest is that we have a gazillion fireflies. Taylor is now dubbed the Firefly Whisperer because she can just snatch one out of the air with absolutely no effort involved. Cassidy, Dave and I have to run around like fools trying to see and catch them with nets, and even then we rarely succeed! We gave them little firefly jars, and they've been taking about three little firefly bugs upstairs to sleep with them every few nights. The poor flies eventually get released by either Dave or myself, but they always seem unable to shake their time in captivity (wandering around aimlessly on the ground, flying in slow spirals.... you know). Eh, the girls love them.

It's been a nice summer so far. The mosquitoes haven't been too bad, it hasn't been unbearably humid or hot, and it hasn't rained a ton either. The garden is beautiful, filled with all sorts of goodies, and the pumpkin and watermelon patch is gigantic. We're having a ton of fun in other words!

More about July.....Part 2 later! I promise!

Monumental Moment

2008-06-30T14:04:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-25T15:46:00.004-05:00

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

2008-06-16T09:47:00.004-05:00

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

2008-06-11T17:46:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-10T07:15:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-06T09:22:00.010-05:00

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

2008-06-04T07:06:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-04T07:01:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-04T06:48:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-05-29T16:12:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-27T07:54:00.000-05:00

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

2008-05-25T13:11:00.001-05:00

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.

2008-05-22T09:43:00.001-05:00

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

2008-05-21T13:34:00.000-05:00

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

2008-05-21T07:03:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-05-20T18:38:00.000-05:00

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