Cake and Junk food

  I packed the girls lunches today brimming with all sorts of exciting foods (junk) that I never buy....Capri Sun, tiny bags of Doritos, salami and cheese on dollar rolls.    

Last night Lucy was rocking her babies and yakking on the phone.  I took a photo and she wanted to see it.  I showed her and she said "that not a smile." Her current smile is this pursed lip one, I guess she'd never actually seen it!

We've been baking some end of the year goodies for the girls' fantastic teachers.  Last night we baked
this lemon blueberry cake loaf with buttermilk icing.  Delicious!  Lucy's Minnie Mouse tried to sneak a bite out of one of the mini loaves this morning that we had packaged up for a gift.   I think we'll have to make some more for poor Minnie.

Lucy's first haircut

When I told her what we were doing this morning she wanted to know if a hair cut hurts.  She was calm and perfect for the stylist and of course chose a purple hair flower when she was finished....we also left with a new pink bow and two more in varying shades of purple.  I think she's all set for a summer of beautiful hair!

A great weekend

Our weekend was fun, starting for the girls on Friday with field day at school.  We ate a lot, the girls had a sleep over, we hung out with friends, rode our bikes, played at the park, saw family, kept eating a lot (ugh....I'm actually ready to STOP eating a lot at least for a few days), watched Cinderella, spent a lot of time outside and just finished with some whipped cream smashed faces.  Now we'll try to wrangle everyone into showers and convince them to go to bed because tomorrow it's back to school.  4 more days.....

It's finally out of the driveway!

    For my own memory, this is 2 yards.  Next year a yard and a half will do just fine.

Building

This morning Lucy had a colossal fit.. screaming, kicking, rolling around, yelling.  This is rare for her so when she has a tantrum she really makes it worth her time.  After it was over I hugged her and said it can be really tough to be two and a half.   She replied "Yes, I think I need to be 3.  I need my birthday."  I love her so much that sometimes when I'm talking to her or watching her play my heart actually breaks and aches in happiness.   It reminds me of a quote my mom once shared with me-

Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” 

― Elizabeth Stone

This morning Lucy built a tower with blocks.  I loved being able to capture her thought process .

Hmmm, do I dare add another?

I'm not sure about this.

                         
                                                                           Oh no!

This morning

I'm sending Princess Kate and Lauren King, of the New York City Ballet, to school.  And it seems I'll be heading to Trader Joe's with my own little princess ballerina.

                                              Princess Kate could only be dignified for so long.

Chef Lucy

Lucy Adelaide made her first peanut butter sandwich this week.  She got out the bread, peanut butter, and knife.  She's a minimalist and skipped the jelly and plate.  Oh, she's just a little bit independent.

Just another reason

I think we live in the best spot.  We can easily decide to go to the zoo for an hour after school.  It's the most perfect time to go.  The crowd has left, it's quiet, and there is a defined amount of time you can spend....the zoo closes at 5 during the school year.  In the summer we visit at 8am, right when they open, it's pretty wonderful then too and we can spend a long time without the sun beating down on us too much or the crowds overwhelming us.

In all the many, many times we've visited our zoo I can only think of few that have not led us to the elephants.   Today Emma said, "every time I forget how big they are and how calm".  

Eleanor was with us too but she had a friend along so I had a much harder time capturing her for a picture.

Of course I did though!

This girl

We're down to 12 more morning sends offs!  Even their best efforts, and trust me they are really working hard, won't compromise me.   I'm standing strong, staying calm, speaking firmly and reminding myself that the last few weeks of school have all kids and teachers a little nutty.  Plus, once the two big ones are out the door we get to do what we like and right now that means a whole lot of park time.

I yelled this morning but it doesn't count....

When I really feel stressed and frustrated I have an embarrassing, terrible way of losing my temper and yelling.  It isn't often but boy do I hate it when it happens and regret it like crazy.  My worst time for this behavior is the morning, when it sometimes feels like I'm herding cats.  At the beginning of the school year I made a goal for myself to not yell.  I am happy to say that while the number of times I've had to bite my tongue (literally a couple of times), walk away, or let someone go to school looking like a ratty mess are countless, my mornings of yelling add up to exactly1, and I've got to be honest that the only way that that incident could have been avoided was if the Earth would have just swallowed me up.

This morning was no different than any other, my girls were all going in different directions, needing different things without any real urgency to get to school.  My year long practice really, really paid off because  I didn't feel stressed and I never even kind of felt like yelling.  We piled into the car, late but with enough time to make it to school on time.   Our school has no drop off lane or parking lot where you can safely drop off kids.  There's no way of adding one either so you just have to be super careful when you drop off.  Cars are kind of weaving in and out, then stopping, kids are jumping out and running into school.  At times it feels like controlled chaos but mostly it works out just fine.  Except this morning.  I pulled up next to another car, opened the van door and told the girls I loved them.  Eleanor jumped out and in that moment the car next to me started to back up.  It was horrible, the driver was looking straight ahead, and Eleanor was walking right into the path of her car.    I yelled Ellie's name so loudly that my throat hurts this afternoon.  Ellie jumped back into the car.  My heart was pounding, her heart was pounding, nobody spoke a word.  When it was safe both girls got out and and ran into school.  I drove away, tears stinging my eyes, and giving thanks the whole time that what could have happened had not.

My goal at the beginning of the year came from a place in which I desired not to let the frustrations that so often present themselves in the morning stand in the way of the grace and love I want my kids to feel each morning as they prepare for their days.  In that awful little moment this morning I was once again reminded that every day is a gift and that wasting them angry about dirty laundry on the floor, unmade beds or messy hair is silly.

The Goddess of Reading

She's been sucked into the Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan.  Since Sunday she's read the final 4 books in the series of 5.  Am I ever thankful he stopped at 5, she's been a maniac getting through these things.  It was very reminiscent of her obsession with the Magic Tree house series in kindergarten.  Complete with finding her reading at 1am and then having a very sleepy girl on our hands in the morning.   

Now she's waiting for the first book in Riordan's next series to come available at the library.  Personally I've got my fingers crossed that the kid who currently has it loses it for a couple of weeks.  

 Meanwhile she's sharing all of her new found knowledge and talking about nothing but Greek gods.  Which is something I know very little about so I'm enjoying it.  She told me this afternoon that I remind her of Hestia, the goddess of the hearth.    El has a friend over this afternoon and when they all sat down for a snack Emma starting quizzing the girls on their Greek mythology knowledge and laughing hysterically at her own Greek god jokes and the "funny" songs that she and a couple of her friends have written.   I wish you could have seen the looks on Ellie and her friend's faces, sort of a blank, you've got to be kidding me face...absolutely priceless.  Emma just kept on rolling though, I wonder which Greek god/goddess she reminds her herself of?

My own little puppy

Here's a little tip in case you should find yourself with a a heap of rice or sticky spaghetti on your hardwood floor. Sprinkle cornmeal on the offending food and it sweeps right up.  

Besides the big rice clean up we spent a lot of time outside.  We played and tried to plant grass where there is only dirt....we'll see what happens.  While we were outside I happened to look up from what I was doing to see Lucy doing her business in the yard.  I shouted "No Lu!  We go in the potty!!"  and she responded "but I a dog, woof!, and dogs poop outside".   It could be an interesting summer.