Coloring eggs

We really didn't intend to do this activity but given that I got a dozen eggs for free and food coloring was cheap, it ended up being a fun project for a rainy day last week.
Some of the eggs ended up with cool stripes in darker shades.

Sister bonding time

On Saturday, we spent time together as a family... all day long.  I think this is what "normal" people do all the time, but since the past 6 weeks consisted of lots of intense, long hours for Troy, we enjoyed our day of togetherness immensely.  After the girls dressed to go out, I discovered that they both were sitting in the baby's play yard (courtesy of a fun daddy!), much to the amusement and delight of the older one who has no recollection of ever sitting there before, apparently.

Rest in peace

Uncle Dennis, a servant of God

Racquetball buddies

Since Troy enjoys smashing the little blue ball around the court at the gym, we took turns holding the girls and exercising. Lucia watched her daddy from outside the glass door for about um, half-a-minute, then started banging on the door so she could play too.  She also got to diffuse a lot of energy running around chasing the blue ball.  She had a blast, hopefully her daddy did too!

More Trader Joe's finds

Wandering around the store Saturday, I noticed this display of dried kim chee. What a great idea for all the leftover kim chee!

Three monkeys at the park

Next stop, park!

The next place we ended up exploring was the park, while waiting for some stores to open.  The girls swung happily, then climbed the rocky slope to slide down the slides.  Phoebe crawled all over the place, dirtying her socks but having a blast anyway.

Big girl swing

Big sister learned how to have fun on a big swing recently!

Brrrrr

Phoebe's cry always makes me half-smile, as it is quite unique.

If you're happy and you know it....

These photos were taken at 9:40 pm.  She happily rolled around, giggling and refusing to sleep.  Another hour passed before Miss Mischief conked out.

Orange Leaf

We discovered yet another frozen yogurt place.  The decor in this joint focused on orange and green (go figure with a name like orange leaf!).  Personally, I can't tell the difference between any of these places but it's sure fun and yummy to try them out!

Friday night ride

We are so fortunate to have Grandma here with us. Troy worked intense hours for his field campaign this past week and Grandma's presence helped us immensely. (Not to mention that our yard looks amazing too, for a change)! Friday night after supper, we took a walk around the block with Lucia being lucky enough to be helped on her ride by Aunt Charlene.

Clowning around for the Cure

Last Saturday, our town held a fundraiser for pediatric cancer.  The community center's gymnasium transformed into an exciting playground of inflatable slides, bounce house, inflatable basketball, face painting, balloon figures, etc.  The event was run by the town's teen council and the teenagers were impressive in their dedication and interest. Lucia initially showed some trepidation and one very special teenage girl named Sarah walked up to her with a big smile, talked gently with her and offered to go on a slide with her.  Later, Lucia gained much confidence and loved her morning fun.  At one point, she wanted to go into the bounce house but seemed hesitant since the air blew so hard at the door.  Much to my delight, she turned around, looked for and found Sarah, walked over to her and asked her to go into the bounce house with her.  Lucia wasn't so impressed with the face painter (so offered up her hand instead), and definitely not impressed with the magician.  The balloon rose brought a smile, though! At the end, Lucia didn't want to leave at all.

The old-fashioned soda counter

The locally run pharmacy sits on the main corner of our small downtown.  For decades, residents of the town  sat along the counter and in the booths, happily slurping up ice cream floats, shakes after downing hot dogs.  We finally tried the place (after living here for five years now!).

Six gals + one boy = Five Guys

We ended up at Five Guys for lunch after story time and playing at the park. Auntie Cara picked the best seat in the house surrounded by kids!

Velcro girl

The baby still looks and cries for mommy any time she isn't directly attached to my person. Not just a little whimper, mind you, but loud sobs mixed with "brrrrr" motoring sounds. (I must record this noise-making for future reference!). In any case, Grandma managed to distract (er, entertain) the aforementioned velcro girl for about 10-15 minutes last night while I cooked dinner. Unfortunately velcro girl heard the clicking of the camera which instantly started the crying. Sigh! The ultimate in literal attachment parenting.... It is lovely to be wanted.

Grandma's here!!

Walking and riding  to park

Conversations with a two-year-old

Our daughters fill my days with joy. Every stage presents its challenges but also fun, poignant, special memories. Lately, our two-year-old's linguistic skills have accelerated so she is expressing her observations and stating her desires in fun and funny ways.

For example, we were in the minivan headed to story time when she noticed that I was holding a thermos mug. "Mommy, you drinking coffee?" "Yes, is that ok?" "You drinking coffee and driving?" "Yes." "Hmmm, that's different". (no idea what she meant but it struck me funny!)

One time, she requested M&Ms (which means she wants me to get the trail mix down so she can pick out the chocolate spheres since we don't actually have just M&Ms). She had been attempting to eat her yogurt but in reallity had been pushing away and turning up her nose at. (She used to love yogurt but not lately!) "Mommy, I want n and m's". "Ok, finish two bites of your yogurt first then you can have some". "But I don't want any yogurt". "That's too bad because I wanted to give you a treat after you ate your yogurt". With a serious look on her face, she said "poor me" and didn't touch her yogurt (nor ask for M&Ms either).

As we left our driveway and drove down the street, Lucia said, "Halmoni Halabuhgee have a garage, Sookmo Samchoon have a garage, but I don't have a garage. We have a door."

One day as we read a book together about a boy and his puppy, she looked up at me and said matter-of-factly, "I don't have a puppy, I have a squirrel."

"Mommy, why can't Phoebe go sheee by herself?" Lucia asked while I was changing the baby's diaper.  "She's not a big girl like you so I need to help her still," I replied. "So, when she gets bigger and bigger, she can go on the potty, and when I get smaller and smaller and smaller, you can change my diaper?" Lucia wondered.

Tour de ....

Store

Chasing balloons

In an effort to keep the baby away from her big sister's marble run game (choke hazard = anxious mom), I turned Phoebe around in the living room where a balloon happened to be.  Uh oh, another potential hazardous object, but the green orb completely fascinated her and she chased it around trying to grab it.  Lesser of evils, I think....

Mall Carousel

January was unseasonably warm, and March is unseasonably cold.  Snow predicted tomorrow, even!

Anyway, to pass these cold days, we met up with some friends at the local mall and the children whirled around on the carousel.  Lucia rode the spinner for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed the sensation.  Her friends kindly slowed the rate of spin down for her.

Another milestone: Sitting

Last night, I put Phoebe down on the kitchen floor to do a couple things and realized that she finally sat by herself for quite awhile.  Exciting development, since she had been able to "army-crawl" for nearly a month now.