February Fun

February was full of fun little things. Here's the rundown of some highlights....

-February was "I Love Reading" month at school for Jillian. They had several events and fun things to enjoy in class in celebration of reading. I was able to participate as one of the mystery readers. It was fun to surprise Jillian and read her class a couple of our favorite books.

-Jillian has started coming to snuggle/talk with me in bed most mornings. Matt leaves early and I usually lay in bed with my coffee and my book or laptop until one of the girls comes to get me. She tried on Matt's glasses so we sent him this selfie at work.

-Jillian also found a new use for my label maker. Just for the record, the sign on her bedroom door was meant for me and not her little sister.

-Matt took Adrienne to her preschool carnival. They had loads of fun decorating cupcakes, getting her hair sprayed pink, eating way too much sugar, meeting Elsa (again), and enjoying face painting.

Jillian and I didn't go to the carnival because she was invited to go out to dinner with her friend Lizzy for her birthday. Lizzy's family picked her and another friend up and they went to Taco Bell, which Jillian thought was AMAZING. I had a quiet hour at home, and then we sat together in the living room reading our novels until the carnival-goers returned.

-On Superbowl Sunday, we made a fabulous s'mores dip for dessert. My little sugar lovers were all.over.it.

My three favorites snuggled together on the couch as we watched the halftime show.

-In my previous post, I mentioned all the sassy things Jillian shouts at me...but sometimes, she writes me some pretty heart-melting notes.

-The girls did their own valentines for school. Adrienne signed her name on all of them independently, and Jillian wrote a personalized note to each classmate. I did nothing!

-My 2015 blog books arrived. I had so many pictures and posts from last year, that the year had to be divided between two books! Receiving these in the mail is one of my favorite days of the year. Writing this blog to record the girls' childhoods is the one thing I do as a mom that doesn't get undone. Dishes get dirty, food gets eaten, laundry needs to be washed and folded again, and so on...but my words and pictures are never erased. It's really gratifying to see the girls enjoy looking at them now that they are older.

-We had some playdates with new friends. The girls enjoyed an evening with Teagan (and her mom, Katie, and little brother Liam) while Matt was at poker. We had pizza and the girls did lots and lots of giggling.

We went to Bella and Paige's house (friends from church) on President's Day, and the girls played amazingly well for hours. They even put on a little play for the moms.

-I never get tired of seeing Jillian read in bed at night. And the mermaid tail blanket just makes me smile.

-Adrienne is really stepping up her coloring game. She was so proud of this one--"Mom I worked on this for more than one day!"

-Matt and I had a long overdue double date with Michael and Jenni. We had a leisurely sushi dinner, then headed downtown to Social Ice, where we lasted for approximately 10 minutes before deciding we were too old and over the crowds. We high tailed it to the Tap House and enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting comfortably in the warmth.

-Matt got so tired of the girls fighting one Sunday afternoon that he made them both get inside a "get along shirt" until they could be nice to each other. Lots of laughter through the tears.

-Jillian is winding down her basketball season. One more practice and one more game. She has improved a lot, and says she wants to play again next year.

Adrienne goes with the flow so well, as she sits through practices with me coloring and talking to me.

-Jillian threw her hat in the presidential race. I'd vote for her!

-We celebrated a GREAT school conference for Jillian at Flapdoodles. She is rocking first grade, and her teacher continues to praise her for her excellent writing skills.

-Tooth number 5 came out! Or should I say it was yanked out. Jillian was tired of the wiggly tooth, so she locked herself in the bathroom yesterday and worked until she pulled it free.

-Matt told the girls he would take them to the store to pick up supplies to make something out of the Harry Potter cookbook. I relinquished control of the kitchen while these three made "Peanut Butter Bon Bons". The most hilarious moment was as they were ready to start, Adrienne inquired "Dad do you even know how to cook?"

Yep, the peanut butter bon bons were a hit....

And one last little story...Adrienne told me that she had the hiccups the other night so I told her to get some water. The next day she said, "Mom that water didn't help me get rid of my hiccups, so I prayed about it and my hiccups went away!" I told her that was great that she thought to pray about it. And then she said, with big, round eyes full of wonder, "Yes, because Jesus can do mi-wa-cles!" Amen.

Words

Words. We are not in shortage of them. Ever. It's so hard for me to  keep up with the things that blow or boggle my mind each day. But, here are a few from the last couple of weeks.

J:

The theme with my first born of late is reminding me that I am the bane of her existence. If I am already hearing some of the following at age 7, I shudder to think of what I will hear at 17...


-"I'm sick of my life! I just want to be a grown up so you don't boss me around!"

-"Mom, you drive me absolutely nuts!"

-"You are ruining my life! You never let me do anything!" This one was said as I politely told her 'we will check with Dad' about going to movie night at school this weekend when she brought it up. My little drama queen promptly and emphatically sighed as she removed her shoes in the mudroom, shouted the above phrases, and threw a shoe AT HER MOTHER. Wanna guess if we are going to that movie night??? You can bet your buttons that we are not.

-After telling Jillian that "no, you cannot lock the playroom door and turn the lights off when there are 4 other kids in there playing with you, she retorted "Is no the only word you know?!?!" I honestly wish I had been witty and quick enough to respond with "No, but it's my favorite word!" Instead, my jaw was on the floor.

-We've been listening to  a CD from a concert she and I attended last weekend. One of the songs is called "Snowstorm" and the gist of it is that sometimes life is hard--when it rains, it pours...and well when you're in a snowstorm that's just even harder. Jillian asked me to play the song as we drove home from basketball practice. About halfway through the song she piped up, "Mom, I feel like my life is a snowstorm. This song just perfectly describes my bad day today." I think it's safe to say she understands metaphors.


A:

My second born is all about speaking her mind in a different way. Sometimes she is so honest and direct that we can't help but laugh.


-The girls are kind of obsessed with "Bean Boozled". These are the little packs of Jelly Bellies that have two flavors for one color--one is gross and the other is good. For example, one green one is lime, and the other is grass. One of the jelly beans happens to be 'booger' flavored. Matt was in the car with the girls as they were chatting and debating which ones they were brave enough to try and Jillian wondered aloud what the booger jelly beans could possibly taste like. Adrienne said, "I eat boogers all the time. They don't taste like anything!"

-One recent Friday night we met Matt downtown for dinner. As the girls and I were driving home, we drove past Hy-Vee. Adrienne noticed all the cars in the parking lot, and was flabbergasted "Mom! What in the world are those cars doing at Hy Vee at  night?" I told her that the people needed groceries, and she scolded the shoppers--"They should really get their shopping done in the morning!"

-On another day where Matt was driving the girls somewhere, Jillian said or did something that exasperated Adrienne (can't recall the details, but they are not important). Matt said he heard Adrienne sigh and quietly mutter, "I am so tired of you, Jillian."

-Driving home from practice we ended up following a white CR-V. Jillian said, "Oh, that must be Dad". Before I could remind her that Matt was at work and so that couldn't be him, Adrienne said "Um no, Jillian. That's not Dad's car. Dad's car has black handles on the door and those are white." And she was right.

-Adrienne is a lover of smells. She comments on scents everywhere we go, she deeply inhales any shampoo or hair product I use on her and sighs with joy. If you take her to a public restroom the very first thing she does after pumping the soap into her hand is to bring her hands to her face and sniff the soap. For the record, she thinks the soap in Newt's bathroom is the best. Anyway, as the girls were getting into the chair to read Harry Potter with Matt, he looked over at Adrienne and noticed her cheeks were shiny and that she was very fragrant. He asked her if she had rubbed soap all over her face, to which she replied "Of course I did!"


And this last little convo was a team effort of notability. As we drove away from the pickup line after school last week, Adrienne noticed the flag at half mast and asked "Mom, why is the flag halfway down?" (We have talked about reasons for this before, so that wasn't an odd question). I told her I really didn't know. Then she said, "I bet they are still killing people." I was kind of dumbfounded and so I asked her what she meant. Jillian got it, and said, "You know, Mom, that thing that happened in France or wherever. They really should be over that by now."

You just can't make this stuff up, folks.

Day of Love

I love Valentine's Day, always have. It is even more fun with little girls.  I decided to start off the season on February 1st, by stealing a Pinterest suggestion. Every night after the girls were in bed  I would tape a heart to each of their doors listing something I love about them. It was a fun little activity that delighted them and was good for me to take time and pause and reflect on the things I love about each of them.


A's door....

J's door....

I spent the morning of Valentine's Day singing in the band at church, so when I got home around lunch time we were ready to start celebrating.

Inside one of my gifts was this little treat. Jillian told Matt she was just sure that "Mom would like some Snitchers". Matt told me Jillian selected this one especially for me--takes one to know one!

The girls enjoying their new blankets. They both love their "merna-maid" tails.

We introduced Jillian to the fine art of Mad Libs and she finds them completely hilarious.

I decided to surprise the girls with a fancy dinner and decorated table, so while they were in the shower I set up. Thank you Target dollar bin.

I will pause here to share the story of the flowers on the table. Last week, Jillian's friend Noah told his mom he wanted to get Jillian some flowers with his own money. His mom texted to ask if we would be OK with this. She said that Noah wanted to give her one white rose and one yellow rose, when put together would stand for 'eternal friendship'. So, Noah's mom brought the flowers to the pick up line at school and Noah gave them to Jillian explaining what they meant. Needless to say she was over the moon.

Valentine's dessert....chocolate cake spread with Nutella, fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

I had a hard time keeping these monkeys out of the kitchen

I told everyone to get dressed up for a fancy dinner. The girls wanted me to do their hair, and I let them wear my jewelry and a little makeup. Adrienne asked for an updo. I think I did pretty good for a quick one.

All dolled up and ready for dinner!

Daddy and I got dressed up, too. Not sure what this look on Matt's face is about...

Family selfie

My favorite shot. Yep, we are totally normal.

My loves enjoying their meal. The girls were especially excited to drink out of my Grandma's glasses. I loved these red and white glasses as a kid and am so happy to own them now. I know Grams would love that the girls are enjoying them.

A fun end to a great day. Love my little family.