Kinderchallenge Cafe

Adrienne and I had the pleasure of attending the Kinderchallenge Cafe today. Jillian's class ran a little snack time cafe for the families, which gave them a chance to practice coin usage/sorting, as well as serving/cleaning up. They were responsible for taking orders, serving us, taking payments, and busing the tables. The kids were so excited, and totally precious as they ran the "restaurant".

Our personal server. Pretty cute, eh?

After taking orders, the servers lined up at the "kitchen" to await the orders. Jillian's teacher (Mrs Schimek) is on the right, and the class helper (Miss Emily) is on the left.

My dining partner. Can you tell she was a total crabby pill and had been crying? Shortly after this photo she threw another fit because she wanted another donut.

Our menu, hand written by Jillian herself.

Our check

Jillian and her buddies--Ella on the left, Caitlin on the right. Is it just me, or does my child look really grown up here?

Third Time

They say that third time is a charm, right? So I suppose this applies to potty training Adrienne. Over the last 9 months I have failed twice at potty training where she is concerned (and this puzzled me because she demonstrated all readiness signs), and now I whisper quietly (so she doesn't hear me and change her mind) that we've done it. Finally. Yipee! I am not sure what flipped the switch, but she decided that being in diapers wasn't working for her anymore. In the past whenever I told her I'd have to put a diaper on her if she didn't try to go potty she'd say, "OK!" but now she runs straight for the toilet if I make that "threat". After she goes she exclaims, "Mom, that's what big girls do!" Yes, it is, Adrienne. Yes, it is. I need to get online and find some more Bubble Guppies underwear (I will not shame myself by sharing how much money I spent for 6 pairs of her beloved Guppie-themed drawers last summer) because now that she is finally potty trained, she should really go up a size. Instead, she ignores the zillions of other more appropriately fitting pants in her drawer and begs for one of the pairs with Oona, Molly, and/or Deema. This girl and her Bubble Guppies. Hip hip hooray for you, Adrienne! We are all so proud of you!

Proud of her unner-wears. And the tutu (thanks, Cheri, for the tip on the tutu ordering. I have a whole gaggle now.)

Those don't look too comfortable to me...

OK, Adrienne, that's enough. Ladies keep their tutus down.

Her long-awaited reward for potty training--her Molly doll! Poor Molly had been sitting in our laundry room just waiting for A to decide she would wear big girl pants.

Molly gets A LOT of love

Snowstravaganza

Holy moly! We had ourselves quite the proper snowstorm last week. I think when all was said and done we "only" had 8-10", but the way it fell was heavy and fierce, and it was followed by a day of 50 mph winds (which equals blizzard). This little storm bought us 2 days off of school/activities, and is still gifting us with horrendous roads 4 days later. Come anytime, Spring. Come anytime. That said, when the snow started falling it really was magical. It was warm (for once), and by that I mean about 35 degrees, and the winds hadn't yet picked up. This made for the perfect scene for some outdoor play. I had the girls all bundled up and ready to go outside when Matt announced he was on his way home early. He had a treacherous commute, but was rewarded by big fun with his girls (all 3 of us!). We had a blast outside together for over an hour as the snow fell around us.

Testing it out

Happy to be outside, no matter the weather!

Queen of the snow pile

One excited 2 year old

Happy to be wearing her scarf that Grammy knit for her

Daddy getting ready to sled down our hill....just waiting for his passenger who had some trouble making it up the steep hill. Do not worry, I didn't go anywhere near a sled. Learned my lesson last time with wrist injury. Stupid old lady ligaments.

I love this one. You can see Jillian's dramatics on the right side. It's hard to wait your turn.

Pretty trees out our back windows as the sun went down

The next day. Crazy snow piles up our front walkway

And the "little" pile of snow out back between the house and second garage. Anyone want to come visit?

Belly Up

The girls really like to belly up to the kitchen bar these days. Adrienne is now allowed to sit up here for snacks (instead of in her booster seat with tray), and we seem to have a tradition of a post-school smoothie.

This particular time was a yogurt-only morning snack, but Adrienne just cracked me up with her attire and expression so I had to snap the pic.

We often have quite the conversations during these smoothie breaks, and today Jillian asked me an interesting question, "Mom, what is a humble king?" That came out of nowhere, so I probed a bit more and she told me she heard the phrase on a song. Then I realized it was a song we had listened to frequently around Christmas time in preparation for me to sing it at Bible study (part of the lyrics to the chorus are "Emmanuel, our humble king, we give you our hearts as an offering...."). So then I was able to explain what 'humble' meant and then Jillian said, "Yep, I get it. Jesus FOR SURE is a humble king!" Never know what you're gonna get when you belly-up to the smoothie bar. This 'bartender' treasures these sweet times.

Today they took an early bath in the big master tub before our smoothie break and enjoyed the treat in their jammies! I admit this routine helps fill the gap of the "worst" hours of the day...those dreaded witching hours between school and dinner. When the bath is done early it gives Matt a break (he is the resident bather) and allows them to have more play time with him when he arrives.

A is doing great with these "big girl cups"

Smoothie-stache

Be Mine

We really extended the Valentine celebrations this year. Matt headed to KC for a long weekend to visit his dad (and the rest of the Howe family), while the girls and I stayed home. Jillian took the news of his absence better because I was able to spin it like this--"You get to celebrate Valentine's Day THREE times! Once at school, once with Mommy and A on actual Valentine's Day, and again with our whole family when Daddy gets home on Sunday!" We had a few tears here and there, but mostly this presentation of the situation worked. Some highlights of the celebrations.

Valentines arrived in the mail from both Grammy & Grandad and Grandpa and PopPop on Thursday. Nicely timed, Grandparents!

Ready for Bible study wearing the shirts I laid out in their rooms to surprise them when they woke

Some Valentine's goodies from Mom

Not sure what was going on with all the blurry pics on this date.

A post-Bible study lunch at Pi Pizza

Pi was giving out free heart-shaped Pi knots with pink glaze and sprinkles--pure glee for these 2!

I made a princess-worthy dinner of heart-shaped pancakes, bananas, and strawberries. Not exactly steak and lobster....

Sunday morning I enlisted some helpers to clean up the house before Daddy arrived home. They both requested gloves and trash bags. Whatever it takes.

Love A's expression

Daddy arrived mid-afternoon to two lovely gussied-up ladies. They promptly gave him the chocolate treats they selected for him.

And then Daddy went out to the car to bring in the surprises he came bearing for them. Love how they closed their eyes in anticipation.

It's hard not to peek when you're 2!

Here he comes!

Frozen dolls and ginormous teddy bears. Mommy could have done without the bears--I think stuffed animals are gross--but the girls were over the moon.

My clever valentine gift. A taste of KC basket Matt put together....complete with "trashy redneck Valentine card".  We soon enjoyed a more "proper" Valentine's meal of ribeyes with herb butter, twice baked potatoes, asparagus, roasted root vegetables, and a chocolate strawberry nutella cake. That's more like it.

Quarry Hill Field Trip

I had the pleasure of accompanying Jillian's class on a field trip to Quarry Hill on this fine (cold and windy!) winter day.

My cute seat mate

Bus selfie. This was prior to a bumpy ride with dirty windows and hot air in the back of the bus (yes, mom had to try REALLY hard not to get car sick!)

Learning about white tail deer. 

Playing a game with felt "tails" as they learned that this type of deer raise their white tails like a flag when danger is near (something we see out the back windows of our house frequently)

Holding a worm. Eek!

Sacrificing that worm to the fish

Two BFFs hanging out on a tortoise shell.

Checking out turtles

Starting our nature hike on the trail

Feeding the wildlife with a cup of corn

All tuckered out with her head in my lap on the way bus ride home. A rare snooze for this busy bee.