Sweet Cuteness

She was FANTASTIC. She never lost focus (the other kids lost interest and were playing around). She did everything the teacher said. She loved it.

Remember when I signed her up for t-ball last summer and she was so incredibly shy that she wouldn't leave my side the entire time? What a difference a year and preschool makes!

Please note: we have already been to Target to buy an "appropriate" ballerina outfit for next week. She is currently napping in it.

Jump Up Jump Up and Get Down

All winter long I have said that I wanted a bounce house for the girls in the basement. Last weekend I came home from Toys R Us and told Brian that I almost surprised him with a $200 bounce house on the credit card. Today I went to Sam's Club and bought very large quantities of...well, of stuff that I wouldn't have otherwise bought but that's not the point. On the way to Sam's Club I passed a cardboard sign indicating a nearby garage sale. Woo hoo, garage sales are starting! I never got into in my last city but I have recently vowed to become a garage saler. I quickly spotted this thing marked for $20. I can't imagine paying $20 for anything at a garage sale so I asked if she would take $10, she grimaced and said she would take $15. I shrugged and decided that it just wasn't meant to be and she quickly changed her mind :) Heee, I didn't know I was a haggler!

I picked Kendall up from school, the temperature is close to 80 today so we decided to go home and pack a picnic to have in the back yard. I mentioned that I had a bit of a surprise for her. After lunch I set it up. Woo hoooo, "Mom, my legs are so tired!" I heard multiple times from the "castle." Lately she has been telling me that she is "A true princess" so of course she needed this castle. Nap time has been especially long today, I knew I needed one of these!

Shhhh

This is a nice and quiet game. I'm usually all for nice and quiet games, especially ones that encourage sweet snuggles but this one loses it charm since we sometimes play it for 47 minutes straight. Both girls usually take turns playing it but Kendall actually was sleeping (nap time).

Shhhhhh, she's sleeping. See her eyes are closed? Let's be quiet because the sweet baby is sleeping.

OHHHH, look at that she's awake!

Again you say? Ok

Shhhhhhh, she's sleeping, be very quiet please.

Oh she's awake.

One last time:

Yummy

When we were shopping in Amish country last weekend I picked up a bag of this rice. I finally made some tonight and it is so good. The girls both really loved it too and wanted more. (Brian has a work dinner tonight).



I forgot to mention this earlier, today when I picked Kendall up from school Mrs. Harris told Kendall to tell me what kind of drill they had today. I could see that Kendall was thinking, she looked at me and said, "A tomato drill." I didn't get it at first but Mrs Harris was cracking up and finally translated for me (a tornado drill). Kendall then proceeded to drop to the floor curl up in a little ball and place her hands over her head to demonstrate.

Good Grief

I'm getting grief from one of the Jennifers about my lack of blog posting (Jennie). I just grabbed my camera to download any pictures that I've taken since the last blog post and three pictures were on the camera card. We've been doing a lot though! Saturday we had a great day. We were invited to a birthday party of one of Brian's colleague's daughters. They live about an hour away and we knew that there are outlets near their house. We spent the day outside walking between the shops, stopping at the duck pond and playing on the play area. The girls did very well despite being trapped in strollers for most of the day. Afterwards we went to the birthday party (where we were the only native English speakers--but everyone politely spoke English so we could understand) and had a blast! The girls had so much fun playing with the little kids and the hosts invited us to stay for dinner. The girls were both F-I-L-T-H-Y from all their playing and cake eating so we gave them a bath (luckily I had brought clean comfy clothes) and then we all sat outside on the deck for a French meal, so very yummy with lots of bread, wine, and oh the cheeses! I fear for the size of my bottom when we get to France surrounded by all those delicious cheeses!

The girls and I have been running around looking for new patio furniture and picking up party supplies as we see them. We met some friends yesterday at story time then for lunch and then after nap again for gym and play time. Jen and the girls are coming over tomorrow for another play date and then Friday night Jen and I are going for a girls night out. We haven't decided if we will just get a drink and chat or if we will go shopping. Saturday Kendall starts her dance class I'll be sure to take pictures of that!

Other then all that we've just been chilling here at home, reading the paper and party planning :)

Friends Named Jennifer

I've always felt that it takes about 2 years living in one place before you start to run into people you know when you're out. However, since we live in such a little 'village' I rarely am out of the house without seeing someone I know already! We have arrived in that comfortable place of new friendships where you don't hesitate to call and say, "What is the plan for the day?!" So we're staying busy, getting out of the house a lot: library times, playgrounds, gym meet ups, and registering for dance classes (for Kendall not me, hee).

Have I ever mentioned that I have a thing for Jennifers? Here let me show you:

Friend from last city (or as we like to say because we're a little middleschool-ish"BFF"): Jennie

Some of our best 'couple' friends: Justin and Jenn

New friend here: Jen

Kendall's favorite friend in her class: Sidnee....but her mom's name is Jen--and I like her

It makes it easier for me to remember people's names. It makes it hard on my family when I try to talk about something I did with one of my friends.

Oh and on a side note Jennie and Jenn both have sisters named Amy. Spookie? That reminds me I know Jen has two sisters I need to ask her what their names are.

I finished Kendall's birthday invitations, she can't wait to hand them out at school. We're having a candy themed party (complete with candy buffet). We placed the invitations in cellophane bags with candy in them. Now we're doing the planning portion of the party. I know the games that we will play. I'm trying to decide on the menu and the logistics of everything.

Our library has awesome story times. This week they had this big "egg" that they blew up, the kids (or chicks) climbed inside and had the entire story time inside! This is how Kate experienced it though:

As I sit here....

...and work on Kendall's birthday party invitations the girls are sitting on the floor together below me. Kendall gathers scrap paper to cut into tiny pieces, she then hands each tiny piece to Kate who deposits them into a plastic store bag. Every single time Kendall hands her a piece of what is essentially trash Kate says, "Thank you, thank you, thank you...." every single time. Finally I said, "Kate, you are so sweet to always say thank you" and she just kept working and said, "Yo welcome."

Another post coming later today with all our pictures from a fun day.

Easter Weekend

Saturday we went with a friend out to Amish country. It was such a nice time. We saw the horse drawn buggies hauling butt out on the roads and we had a delicious meal and did a little shopping. I've already talked to mom about it and we plan to go when she visits next month. At one of the little grocers I picked up homemade pasta and some "gourmet" pasta sauce that was incredibly good. It wasn't local but it's base was a Pinot Grigio and it had whole black olives in it, yumm. I picked up a loaf of hot Italian bread tonight and we had chicken over the pasta with sauce and hot bread. Yummy.

Saturday night Kendall decided that she didn't want the Easter Bunny coming into our house. She would not go to sleep, she was crying and really freaking out. I went so far as to tell her that HE IS NOT REAL but she didn't believe me and she just kept asking me when he was coming, if he would peek in her room....we even wrote a note to put outside that asked him not to come inside. Finally we said that I emailed with the Easter Bunny and he told me what to do so Mommy would do it all this year and he wasn't going to come because he didn't want to scare her. She declared today that she wanted him to come next year. It's funny when people ask her if the Easter Bunny came to her house she says, "No."

Sunday we were in church and the preacher wasn't far into the sermon and I realized something was off, I knew the punch line to all of his jokes, I could predict what was coming next. I started to wonder if he was using his Christmas sermon over again and then it hit me, he was using the sermon that I heard LAST EASTER at our old church! I really wanted to approach him and tell him that I was a fan of (insert our last pastor's name here) too but I just couldn't do it.

The girls and I spend a lot of time looking out our kitchen windows watching the birds. They are starting to recognize them by name. Tonight I set this little station up for the girls. This is a shelf on the front of our island. It holds my cookbooks on top and the library books on bottom. I put a little basket with some of the birds we see and two bird field guides (small ones that they can manipulate easily) so that we can look up birds and read about them. (Thanks Susan and Great Gram Z for the books!))

Jesus You Are My King

Amazing Love by Chris Tomlin
I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well,
Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.

Amazing love,
How can it be
That You, my King,
would die for me?
Amazing love,
I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You,
In all I do, I honor You.

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken,
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.
You are my King
Jesus You are my King

Listen here

Springing

Kendall is officially on Spring break. I'm trying to come up with lots of ideas to keep the girls busy and me sane this week. Yesterday this was our project...the start of our garden. We've started a few veggies, once the plants sprout and our last freeze has passed we will crack the egg shell and drop egg and all into the ground. Kendall checks multiple times a day to see if they have poked through yet (note: we planted them yesterday, ha). We're starting with carrots, peas, cucumbers, broccoli, and a mix of lettuce.

I'm thinking about finishing up our little art bags/kits so we can go on some nature hikes to draw all the new flowers we're seeing as well as the progress our veggies make.

Tuesday we went to story time at the library. Kate is the one kneeling, with the white shirt and pig tails.

We have big plans for picnics, snuggly movies on the couch, baking and other memory making events.

Just Being Us

We've had some nice warm days and have been meeting up with friends at parks and for play dates. I love that we've reached the point where we are running into people we know and we are getting calls from friends to go do stuff, woo hoo. I heard a quote on a commercial the other night that I related to, "When we get to a place where no one knows us we become most like ourselves." That has been us for a few months: we didn't know anyone, we became more like ourselves, we learned more about each other as a family, and now we are being our best us with our new friends. I think that is one of the things I look forward to when we become ex-pats: it being just the four of us relying on one another and learning more about ourselves and each other.

Kendall participated in St Jude's trike-a-thon and it was hilarious to watch the little kids zipping around on their mission. I took Kate to let her ride her bike for a little while too. She is really looking forward to school next year.

Yesterday Kendall met her hero. We surprised her, wouldn't tell her we were going (an indoor amusement park a little over an hour away). That in itself was enough of a surprise then she saw the sign saying who was going to be there.
Actually, we were the last family to see Diego. As we walked off the stage I heard one of the security guards say that Diego needed something, they helped him off the stage and tried to get him behind the curtained door but we saw him collapse into a chair...next time unlock the knees buddy.

Back in the Saddle

Well, our guest has left us. The girls have asked for her a few times already. I have told them about our crazy next couple of months to distract them (visitors and trips and birthday...).

Now we have to get back into our regular routine. Kendall is getting ready to go to school and Kate and I have our list of errands to run. I'm beginning to think about our Spring garage sale, trying to decide which weekend will be best then I can start the 'fun' of pricing. The hard part will be finding tables and clothing racks to put it all on!

Peee-you

Kendall loves to show how she can jump on one foot. I encouraged her to try jumping on her non-dominant foot. Wait until the end, Kate says something really funny.

Then Kate wanted to try too, it's a bit more like prancing.

When it Poos it Pours

Today was Donuts with Dad's Day at Kendall's preschool. Sadly, Brian wasn't able to get any pictures. I'm going to make them pose together when he gets home from work though :)

We had a fun day yesterday starting out at the library story time and ending at the outdoor playground at the gym. In the middle we did lots of reading and puzzles.

I just have to say that I LOVE girlfriends! I am so blessed with the best ones on the planet too. I've started to make a few new ones here at the new house but my day to day is full of talks and emails with my friends from my last city (and a new friend from my last city too--hi Melissa).

Today I was emailing with Karin about the poo incident we had today (don't ask, you don't want to know) and she was able to talk me down from my Crazy Mommy ledge. I think sometimes it's easy to set your expectations of mommyness way too high. I told her how I have this vision in my head of our day to day life being very 'organic' and fun and nice calm voices but too often it is Easy Mac and chaotic and whiny cries. Sometimes I also wonder if the blogosphere helps to create this unrealistic Mommy vision in my head. We all blog about the organic perfectness of our existence and leave out the 'poo incidents' that so often riddle our days. We have to be realistic though, poo happens.

Anti Clutter Toy Organizing

Those that know me know that I'm anti clutter. One thing that kids are good at is accumulating stuff. After every Christmas and birthday I go through our toys and get rid of the things that we don't use or have grown out of to make room for the new things. I have found that when there are too many toys out or if the toys are disorganized then the kids wont play with them. I think that we currently have too many toys but we have a big space so they are all spread out. Here is the system that works for us.

In the family room we have these three boxes (that can be used as seats when we have a large gathering). On top is the US puzzle, this color/shape/size puzzle and one other favorite toy that gets rotated from a small group of things that I have stored away. One box contains the Lego's, and the other two have various animals, electronic games, lacing and threading toys. On the other side of the room is their table and chair set that always has crayons and coloring papers. The desk area actually is the messiest area in the house (but you have all seen my desk before) with papers and crayons all over the place.

In the kitchen we have one cabinet full of toys that the girls can get into: playdoh, stamps, coloring books, Hullabaloo, foam ABC and animal stickers, puzzles. These things they are able to get to and use whenever they want but they are in the cabinet because I want to know when they are using them.
In the drawer above this are the things that they can use but that I have to get out: large stamp pads, markers, painting. This is also where I keep their 'boxed' puzzles. Kendall and Kate love puzzles but the boxed ones just take up too much room. Now as soon as we get a new one we place the pieces in a zip up bag and cut out the picture from the box to store inside as well.

Just to the right of that is the drawer that has supplies for them but it is my drawer that holds 'school' supplies. Supplies that I have gathered for that week's art projects, activity books....Just knowing that this drawer is only for me to open makes it that much more interesting to them. They are always ready to do whatever I pull out of here. On our cookbook shelf I keep all of our library books from that week; anytime I'm working in the kitchen the girls end up sitting here and reading together.

The girls are starting to play in their rooms a little more. They each have age appropriate toys that get rotated into their rooms. Kate's are stored on the bottom shelf of her changing table and there are a few books and big items in her closet (I'm going to buy a canvas box to put those items in.) She also has two small crates under her crib that she can pull out to play with (blocks and other small items). The dollhouse is currently here in Kate's room as well as her small reading chair.

Kendall usually reads when she is in her room but there are baskets with her toys in the closet (two larger ones on the floor not shown--Blocks & small beanie animals). I just noticed that there is a sippy cup in that basket, better go get that, ha.

Finally is their corner of the basement. This is where the majority of the toys (and all of the loud or noisy toys) are kept. This room is often a mess because I usually wont step foot down here. Eventually I'll wander down and get the girls to help get it all put back in place. A lot of the time the toys stretch clear across to the other side of the basement near Brian's work out equipment and his office. It is in this toy explosion that you will find the basket of dress up clothes, the puzzle table, the pretend play area, art easel, train and truck table, music corner and other large plastic colorful toys. We also have a small trampoline for those pent up energy days.

It helps to maintain my sanity and the girls actually play with all of it much more with everything organized and put away. I like that you aren't overwhelmed by kid stuff when you walk in the door. We generally clean up one thing before we move on to the next and my one rule is that the toys remain on the right level of the house (upstairs toys don't come down and basement toys don't come up).