To add insult to injury....

So I'm trying to upload the contacts list while they're putting the video up on their server. After becoming an accidental spammer, I find that despite not having compressed the video myself, YouTube must have compressed it and the quality is really no better than zippyvideos. DOUBLE ARRGGGGH!
And I've spent a couple of hours messing around with this thing. UGH. No video tonight I'm afraid. It's just been too traumatic for my feeble mind.

Yikes! I'm a spammer!

Good gracious. To everyone who reads this blog, I'm terribly sorry about the spam. I was trying to upload a contacts list to YouTube and was having a terrible time. (The whole reason I was trying to upload was so the whole wacko world wouldn't see videos of the kids and it would just be people who know us and the kids). So I uploaded everything....thinking I could just delete. Apparently, it doesn't work that way and they send out a "come-join-youtube" spamish type of email to everyone on my contacts list....which seemingly is everyone I've ever emailed in the last couple of years. I didn't even hit the "Invite to YouTube" button. How did this happen?!?
Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry a million times over. Thank goodness it appears my name wasn't really on the email but now you know we're 4snobugzinMN.
So now, WHAT DO I DO?! What's proper protocol? Do I email all these people --even folks I haven't emailed in years to let them know I'm a complete numbnut? UGH!

Sign Language

Lolo is learning sign language at school. She'll come home and sign something to us (half the time it's wrong). Then I've got to go look it up online and figure out what she's doing. It has actually prompted us to try to teach Norah some signs. Hopefully, this will ease Norah's frustration in communicating to us somewhat. Both girls seem to get a big kick out of the signs. Lolo giggles like mad, grabs Norah's little hands, and tries to get her to sign. It's a real hoot.
Here's our vocabularly list so far:
More
Eat
Drink
Hungry
Thirsty
Milk
Apple
Tree
Yellow
Red
Green
Frog
(Lolo is learning about apples at school).

Videos

Apparently Geocities isn't very reliable. I'm going to nix it from my list. Plus I only got 15 mb of free space. Comcast will give me 25mb but both still leave me with a problem of what to do with leaving the movies up. At Susan's suggestion, I'll try YouTube later. We'll see how well the privacy feature works.

Bike ride

We picked up Lolo from preschool today. She immediately asks, "Where we going?" Um. We're going home to eat lunch. She asks "Can we not go home to eat?" She wants to go out to eat. Since neither Jim nor I are real excited about sandwiches, we agree. We come home and Lolo wants to ride her big girl bike to the Nook. OK. I was skeptical, but Jim thought it could be done. He was right. She rode her big girl bike there and back. Woo hoo!
On a separate but somewhat related issue, I've been a little dissatisfied with zippyvideo. Yep. It's free. But I have to compress the videos a lot so the quality has been less than stellar. I'm going to be trying some different video methods. If anyone as ideas of where I should be uploading videos, please let me know....ideally, it would allow for a less compressed format and be free.
Here's a trial video of Lolo riding her bike. Let me know what you think. I've currently got it on geocities, but I think there is a limit to the amount I can post on there so I don't know that it's going to be a permanent solution. And why no picture? I haven't yet figured out how to get the screen shot on there yet.

Saving blog pages

Periodically, I've been saving the pages of the blog....I'm hoping that one of these days either when I'm really motivated and/or both girls are in school and I find myself without something to do (ha!), I'll print the pages and make nice books for the girls.....but I digress....
I'm having troubles using the "File/Save As" feature. Basically, I get an error message saying the page couldn't be saved. I need to save the pages after 7/9/06. Anyone else have this issue or is it just me?

Dadabooboo

Any takers for Dadabooboo? Will someone please keep him? Jim and I are getting a little tired of this rascal.

Tooth count

Norah's up to 7 teeth now. A molar is poking out.

Preschool

Lolo comes back from preschool with this wonderful saying "cheep, cheep smell my feet" and then proceeds to stick her feet in Jim's face. Jim asks her "who taught you that?" Lolo says "Jack". Perhaps I should have taken more interest in the montessori school.

Norah's competition

As I'm changing Norah's diaper, Lolo announces "Dadabooboo has a baby. Dadaboo baby don't need diapers. His baby potty trained." Poor Norah. It's tough keeping up with Dadabooboo and his incredible family.

Playground

Oh yeah. We got distracted by the playground too. Raspberries, then playground. Unfortunately no time for apples. On the way home Lolo asked to live at the playground.

Raspberry picking

We went to an apple orchard today with the intent of picking apples. Instead, we got distracted by the raspberries....never quite got around to apple picking.

The girls ate and ate and ate raspberries to their heart's content....to the point where I started worrying about their tummies. Both girls seem fine so far and are exhausted from the day's adventure.

The competition is tough around here....

Tonight at dinner Lolo is talking about Dadabooboo and his mama again.....I had mistakenly called Lolo, Norah, and it didn't go over real well.
Lolo said, "Why you always get mixed up Mama? Dadabooboo mama never get mixed up. She really incredible." I roll my eyes at Jim. Jim tries to help out, "Mama's really incredible too." Lolo says "No she not." She climbs out of her booster, over to me, and gives me a hug while saying "but we still love her."
And if that weren't enough....let's twist the knife a little bit more....
Later, Jim asks "Lolo is Daddy incredible?" Lolo replies adoringly, "Yes Daddy. You're really incredible."

Tooth update

Norah now has 6 teeth. They came in officially a few days ago.

Daredevil

This morning, I'm cleaning up the kitchen. Jim's watching the girls. Norah is climbing the stairs when Jim announces that she just did "the most dangerous thing" he has "ever seen a human being do." (Which knowing Jim is quite scary). Norah apparently decided to turn around and do a flying leap off a step...face first down. Jim caught her by the legs - just as she was about to tumble head over heels. Of course our girl giggles with delight when she is caught and hanging upside down.

News from this week....

Jim's off this week. Yep, I know. Everyone is surprised. We don't have a trip planned. I'm tired and we're going to try to stay home (at least until the end of this year).
So we went out and rode bikes yesterday....I'm completely out of shape....I pulled the girls in the double chariot behind my bike and about had a heart attack. Jim was riding circles around me....said something about "put your bike in first gear." Uh. It was in first.
The plan for this week is rather tame. Swim school, apple picking, preschool, and maybe a water park. Other than that, we're going to be taking care of home things....

Sleeping in

I'm trying hard not to get too depressed about how long it will be before I'm able to sleep in late and get up when I'm ready....not getting up as a result of crying or "Moooooooom!" And to enjoy that leisurely cup of coffee and read the paper in peace.

Stair climber

Norah and I have been going up the stairs many many many times today. She's started something new today....she'll stand up straight midway up the stairs, start bouncing up and down, then lay back, and fall into my arms. Crazy girl knows no fear. I find it humbling that both Lolo and Norah trust us so implicitly....as if we could protect them from everything.

Another climber

Norah has been experimenting with the stairs the past week. Last week, she would go up one step and then got as far as the second step. This afternoon, Lolo raced upstairs. Norah chased after her and crawled all the way up the stairs (with me following right behind her). Yikes. Now, I'm going to be fearful for Norah until she figures out how to go down the stairs by herself I'm guessing it's going to take at least a couple of months before she gets good at backing down the stairs....Lolo never quite got the hang of going down the stairs backwards.

Fingerpainting

After many projects, Lolo and I are still not really clear on why it's called "fingerpainting." Basically, this art project involves a lot of paper towels, newspaper, soap, water, and an immediate load of laundry.

Jack

All this week we've heard about a little boy named Jack in Lolo's class. Jack has been hitting people in school....but not Lolo and he gives all of his toys to Lolo. When I picked up Lolo from school this morning, she said in a forlorn voice, "I try to hold Jack's hand. He won't let me. Not even in the parking lot. You have to hold hands in the parking lot. I love Jack." Uh huh. I paged Jim with the news. Obviously, he's troubled. It looks like our little girl has a thing for bad boys. We're hoping this is not a sign of things to come. I miss David. He's such a nice boy. (Said in my not-so-incredible mom voice).

More on the sandbox

Thanks for the advice. Lolo with a vacuum is not exactly a helpful thing....though she does enjoy it. And, the school is smarter than us....parents drive up, we're not allowed out of the cars, teachers strap the kids into their carseats. Sand definitely comes home with us. I need a mudroom. And a way to keep sand out of Lolo's shoes. There's got to be a good way to keep sand out of her shoes. In the summer, she wears flipflops to the neighborhood playground...but that's not really an option this time of year (nor at school).

Playground sand....advice?

At preschool (and summer camp) Lolo goes out to play on their playground every day. As a result, every day she comes home with a load of sand in her shoes. Here's my problem....we don't have a mudroom....taking off shoes in the garage is icky and not really an option.....how do I manage the sand that gets tracked in every day? Even when I have Lolo sit down to take her shoes off by the door, it still gets dumped out of her shoes onto the floor. Plus, I'm still dumping sand out of her shoes every morning. I'm trying to get her to do things like take off her own shoes, put on her own jacket, etc. to build more independence and life skills. So, I wanted to avoid taking off her shoes for her. Any thoughts?

Norah's favorite morning activity

I don't know why this is.....but Norah's favorite morning activity is to crawl into the bathroom while Jim is showering, pull back the shower curtain, and stick her bowling-ball head into the shower. She gets soaking wet. The bathroom floor gets wet. It's a real mess. But keeping her out of the bathroom is a real challenge. She'll howl in protest if we try to keep her out. Jim has resorted to showering with his foot on the edge of the tub while stepping on the curtain in an effort to keep things semi-dry, while Norah keeps plugging away - trying to find an alternative way in.

A real zinger

For the past several months, Lolo has had an imaginary friend named DadaBooboo, who plays an increasingly important role in our lives. It seems every day the stories get more elaborate. (The latest saga is how DadaBooboo goes to work every day at Gramma Peg's mall.) It's a delicate balance. Yes, we pretend like DadaBooboo exists....but you can't pretend too much because Lolo will tell you in her own "duh" tone of voice way, "Moooom, he jus 'tend!"
This morning we're getting ready to get started on the day. The girls are up. Norah is dressed. Lolo is half dressed. I'm trying to get dressed, but am still sleepy. Somehow, I get a little mixed up and don't do something "right". Lolo says "Mom, why you get all mixed up?! DadaBooboo's mama don't get mixed up." I mumble something in acknowledgement. Lolo continues, "She really incredible."

No self-esteem problems here...

The girls were up early early early again this morning - just as the sun was coming up (as Lolo said "It's not dark anymore.") We brought them into our bed (again, insanely hoping against all hope for a little more shut-eye). Norah is bouncing up and down. Lolo is snuggling up against me. I snuggle against her warm sweet smelling head and say "Lolo, I love you." She snuggles in more and sweetly says "I love myself."

Peekaboo

To show off the talents of both kids, I feel like Norah has to have a video too....
The video below is of Norah's version of peekaboo. She loves to play at mealtimes. Note that her sister has to get into the act too (since she can't stand to not be a part of any movie).

Our budding musician and composer

Lolo is like a mini-Jim. They are both constantly singing and love to make up words to new songs, sing a medley of tunes (usually only recognizable by mom), etc. Lately, Lolo has taken a renewed interested in her recorder....this video is of her new tune "The Waka-Waka Song." Personally, I really get a kick out of how Lolo's head always bobs when ever she's playing a Lolo-original-tune.

Priorities

Lolo was looking in the pantry....checking out our supplies. All of a sudden she exclaims, "Mom! We need more hot chocolate and straws! We've got to go to the store!" Interesting to see what she has determined to be priority items in the pantry.

Fall clean up

Lolo and I have been busy outside the last few days doing fall clean up....pruning bushes, cutting down small trees, pulling out weeds....things I should have done last year (but was too pregnant to do) and things I should have been on top of this summer (but was too lazy to do). Anyway, I think I will be done in a couple more days (there's a limited amount of time to work when Norah is down and when Lolo's attention span allows). It will be nice to get the yard in decent shape for next year. I'm actually looking forward to figuring out how to landscape the place over the next few summers.

Our princess

Here's Princess Lolo, complete with fairy wings, tiara, a wand, and "happy birthday princess" balloon. The other day a neighbor was over at our house and asked Lolo if she was going to be a princess for halloween. Lolo looked at her with disdain. Duh. Lolo is a princess every day - not halloween.

Persistent girl

Our Norah is probably one of the most persistent kids I've ever encountered. If she sets her mind on something, she'll work at it until she gets it (or howls for a long time in protest). This morning, she got up early and I brought her into our bed (hoping in vain that she might go back to sleep). She set her mind on climbing up on our pillows to reach the cord for the blinds. I must have pulled her down and said "no" at least five times. Then she crawled over to Jim and tried to reach the cord from his side of the bed. It's like this for just about anything she sets her mind on that we don't want her to do....ie, playing with dirty shoes, playing with electrical cords, pulling open the shower curtain while one of us is taking a shower, etc. It's a little disconcerting to see this trait develop in Norah....great trait to have if it's channeled properly, but my goodness, can you imagine how dangerous this child could be if she goes astray?!

Bye bye to the LMNOP

I guess it was inevitable but I'm still a little sad. After some experimenting, I've allowed Lolo to give up her afternoon quiet time by herself in her room. Instead, we usually do a quiet activity in the afternoon when Norah is napping. Kind of a bummer for me, because I really enjoyed my afternoon quiet time alone on those rare occasions when I could get both girls down at the same time. But at the same time, it's kind of nice to have some alone time with Lolo that's quiet and just for us. Norah's morning naps are getting shorter. I think she'll be giving that up pretty soon and she'll just be down to one long afternoon nap. Amazing to see how quickly they grow up.

Busy busy day

It was a beautiful sunshiney warm day here today and we took full advantage. The girls and I were out and about - busy as could be. After breakfast, the girls and I went to our favorite store, Target, to shop for Halloween costumes and the miscellaneous fun stuff-you-just-can't-live-without (ie. sparkly hair bows, snack bags, new fairy wings, etc). Came home with the costumes you see in the earlier post. Norah napped briefly. Had lunch.
Waited for the oven repair man to come (can you believe it cost $70 for him to come out and tell me it was broke?!?). While we were playing in the living room, we saw David and his dad pull up next door to do some work on their house....Lolo ran out to play with her long-lost-best-pal.
So, the girls and I were outside with David. Then a couple of boys from down the street (Gordy and Frankie) came by to play as well. We ended up with 4 little kids rolling down our front yard and running around like little monkeys. Norah just sat in the grass soaking it all in....wishing she could run around with the "big kids". Then a big party inside with snacks for all the kids.
Norah went down for her afternoon nap. Gordy and Frankie left with their mom to pick up their siblings from school. Lolo and David continued to draw with chalk, roll down the front yard, and climb a light post outside. David went home. Lolo played with play-doh and when Norah got up from her nap, we went to the playground.
The playground was an interesting experience. I was pushing Lolo and Norah on the swings (2 separate swings). And Lolo wanted me to "underdive". She got really upset because I didn't know what she was talking about. Apparently, Ashley "underdives" with Lolo. A younger parent at the playground had to explain it to me....so here it goes....Lolo gets pushed way high up in the air....then I run UNDER the swing, diving to get on the other side. Lovely.
Anyway, I'm exhausted and feeling a little beatup. 35 is a little too old to be diving under a moving swing with a 3 year old while keeping a 10 month old swinging at the same time.

A Halloween Preview

Lolo picked out costumes for the girls this morning at Target. Expect to see more of these costumes in the next month. I suspect we're going to get a lot of wear out of Elmo.

Tough week

It's been a tough week here. Jim's on call and hasn't been home much. Lolo is not real excited about preschool....wishing she was back at summer camp. Norah has two more teeth about to come through and has caught some sort of virus that's created sores on the back of her throat. She's not sleeping and is crabby. Ditto for me. On top of that, our oven is not working once again. Maybe I can sell it for scrap metal and use the difference on a down payment for a new range.
On the bright side, it's a beautiful day outside. Ashley is here visiting with Lolo. Norah is temporarily down. I'm going to let all the work I have to do slide and take some "quiet time."

Preschool sure isn't summer camp

Everytime we pick up Lolo from preschool, she doesn't tell us what she did at school. Instead, the first thing out of her mouth when I ask "what did you do at school today?", is "we didn't schwim and we didn't ride horses. We just learn." She's pretty disgusted with the whole school thing. I'm pretty sure she wishes it was still summer camp.

Tiny baby doll

I'm putting away our summer clothes and pulling out stuff for fall/winter (yeah, I know....I was going to do it yesterday but I'm actually doing it today....file that under expert procrastinator). I'm going through Lolo's old clothes for Norah. Many outfits of which she might have worn 3-4 times before she outgrew. I remember thinking "What midget children are the models for these clothes?!" We were constantly upsizing because she never fit into age appropriate clothes (except for a few days after she was born when she actually fit into preemie clothes). Well, turns out our kids are at opposite ends of the spectrum. We've got a good-sized girl and a tiny baby doll. Norah (who turned 10 months on monday) still fits into some 3-6 month old clothes and the 6-9 month old clothes are roomy for her. Crazy how different kids can be. Norah may be getting new clothes this winter after all.

Norah's first word

Well it's official. Norah's first word is "Mama". Hooray. We've been wondering for weeks if she was really calling for me or if it was a fluke. It's real. She'll call out "Mama" if Lolo has "done her wrong." And she'll call out "Mama mama mama" and crawl after me if she wants to be picked up. Kind of sweet. Sure beats Lolo's first word...."No!"

Little Miss Mouth

During lunch today, Lolo requested more milk by basically saying "get me more milk mom now!" Yeah. Right. When I just blankly looked at her, she responded further "Mama, we don't have to say 'please' at school."
Needless to say, we had a long discussion about the state of her world. Unfortunately, I think this conversation about the way things are done at home and "mom's rules" is going to have to be repeated many times over. Sigh.

Back in the swing of things....

We're back on track at home. Lolo started swim lessons yesterday again. And is at preschool this morning. Norah is sleeping well and continually cracking us up with her constant grins. It's amazing, but after 10 months, it seems that Norah is finally turning into a relatively easy-to-care for kid. (Notice I didn't say "easy-going"....this girl knows what she wants and is determined to get it). The weather is turning cooler. I'm getting ready to switch out our warm weather clothes for fall/winter clothes. (Of course, I'm here blogging because I'm not looking forward to cleaning out the closets).

Itasca Part 4 - finally the end

Our last full day was quite nice. The sun was shining, with a bit of chill in the air. Leaves were starting to change. We took a nice drive around the park and a couple of nice hikes. One was to a fire tower. Whew. It didn't seem so high at first, but climbing up all those stairs carrying a kid is a workout! The girls enjoy our leisurely strolls. We stop whenever the mood strikes Lolo (to pick up rocks and sticks, or to look at frogs, or whatever). It's funny to think that we used to be able to cover several miles of hiking a day...now, if we do a one mile hike with Lolo actually walking (not getting carried by Jim)...it's a really big deal.

Here's a classic Lolo moment....Lolo stops to pick up pine needles.

Jim says "Pine needles come from pine trees. What else comes from pine trees, Lolo?"

Lolo thinks for a moment and says "Pine cones!"

I was suprised that she knew that! I say "Good job Lolo! How did you get to be so smart?!"

Lolo says "I just are!"

It seems like my little girl is growing up so fast these days.

But then again, we have conversations such as this....In another Lolo moment, we come across a lady (perhaps in her late 40s) hiking with a couple of walking sticks. Lolo asks loudly, "why that lady have two big sticks?" We explain that they are walking sticks and some people use them to help them on hikes. Lolo continues to ask loudly (and clearly within earshot) "because she's old?!"

Itasca Part 3

The next day turned blustery and cold. We decided to go visit Bemidji.....home of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox (according to Kodak, this is the second most photographed man-made object in the US....personally, I find this hard to believe....that many people come up to Bemidji for this?!?!)

Anyway, I was not so impressed. I don't think the girls were either. Lolo was excited to get back to Itasca and her big wheel tricycle.

Itasca State Park - Trip Report Part 2

Back to the mighty Mississippi....we started out with good intentions...girls fully clothed and proper.

But how can you resist, a cool stream on the last warm, lazy day of summer in Minnesota?

Itasca State Park - Trip Report Part I

What was supposed to be a 4.5 hour (one way) trip turned into a 6 hour trip. We've learned that car trips with 2 little ones just plain take longer. Plus, in a moment of weakness, we allowed Lolo to discover McDonald's Playland. You should have seen her eyes glaze over in wonder.

All in all, the trip to Itasca was a good one. We were extremely fortunate with the weather. As you can see from the video below, perfect weather the first day....Jim and the girls are walking across the mighty Mississippi River. Hard to believe the Mississippi starts as this little stream from Lake Itasca.

Itasca State Park is pretty neat. It's got a nice bike trail system. We'll probably try it again when the girls are a little older (kind of hard to make too much progress on a big wheel). Norah was cracking us up. We rented a burley for me to pull Norah behind my bike (Lolo sat in one behind Jim). She's learning how to drink from a sippy cup now and just seems to get cuter and more funny every day. (Biased mom-talking here).

By the end of the trip, after playing in the river and the bike ride, Norah was just worn out. More pics in the next trip report...

Itasca State Park

We're heading out this afternoon (after Lolo gets out from preschool) to go up to Itasca State Park....part of our "explore Minnesota" summer (which is actually looking like an "explore Minnesota" year since we ran into so many home repairs this summer).
In any event, we're heading out to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River and will be back on sunday.
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Big day for the girls

It's been a very big day for both girls.
A first for Norah....we put her down last night around 8:30pm and she slept until a little after 7am this morning....waking just a couple of times and putting herself back to sleep each time. Hooray for Norah!
And a first for Lolo....today was Lolo's first day of preschool. Jim, Norah, and I dropped her off at school this morning. When we picked her up at 11:15, she was all smiles but first thing she said...."we didn't schwim today and we didn't ride horses." Oh bummer. Preschool is different from summer camp. I think I'm going to let her teacher break the news to her.

Another round of hopscotch

And simply because this cracks me up even more than the first hopscotch video, I felt we had to post this video too. Lolo noticed PoPo was having a hard time playing the jumping game (PoPo is not exactly adept at hopping). She had to help PoPo do it. Lolo was so sweet. She kept saying "Just try it PoPo. You can do it."

Day at the Zoo

Lolo on the FrogHopper at ComoTown.
Norah doing her own thing at Como.

We've had a very nice day today. The weather has been absolutely perfect. Blue skies. Perfect temps. We took the girls to ComoZoo, the Conservatory, and by Lolo's request....ComoTown. Jim had a terrible weekend of call, but he gamely came along for the adventure.

Norah happily sat in her stroller...munching on cheerios, watching the crowds, and decided she really like frozen lemonade.

Lolo had a grand time. As always, she loved seeing the animals at the zoo....but then she spied ComoTown (an amusement park just for little kids). We had gone there earlier this summer with David and Laura on a weekday. And gosh, she remembered. She wanted to go on rides.

She wanted to drive the firetruck, and go on the swings, and then on a "Frog Hopper" ride. As you can probably see from the picture above, the Frog Hopper was kind of scary for Lolo. It takes kids up pretty high and then does a short kind of free fall drop. She got a little scared but never cried. When she got off, we were high-fiving her and telling her she did a great job. She smiled and said, "that a little scary" but you could tell she was awfully proud of herself. She also wanted to show her dad how she could ride the swings like big kids and not get scared. (David and Laura's mom wouldn't let David ride the swings and wouldn't let either kid ride the FrogHopper).

Anyway, the swing movie is below. I'm not sure how to slow it down. Lolo is on there. You really have to look for her. She's in a "row" by herself....on the inside (smaller kids are supposed to sit on the inside row)...look for white sneakers and a flower print dress. I thought it was pretty impressive that a not-quite-three year old would enjoy this ride so much (that was before we saw her on the FrogHopper). Needless to say, that little girl impresses the socks off of us!

My "melon"

Today PoPo and I were commenting on the girls' temperments...how Norah seems to be more like me and Lolo is very "mellow" and easy-going (I say like her dad, PoPo jokingly says Lolo is like her....which we ALL know is far far from the truth). Lolo was listening intently to our conversation and a few minutes later we hear her saying proudly and loudly "I a melon!"

New record for Norah

Norah set a new record this morning....she went 2 hours without crying!! Woo hoo!! Yes, I know...sounds like something we should have achieved, oh about 8 months ago, but it's a new one for us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this change is here to stay.

Does it really "take a village"?

Lolo is cranky today. Popo is here and she spent the night in Lolo's room. Actually, Lolo ended up crawling into Popo's bed last night and I'm pretty sure they didn't go to sleep until close to 11pm. In any event, I took Lolo with me to the market this morning. She was having issues. Big loud tantrum in the store. So I'm talking to her, trying to get her to get her to finish (and/or have a more quiet tantrum)....when this old lady looks at us and loudly exclaims "Hush! I'm trying to talk to this man. You be quiet." We look at her in shock. Lolo quiets for a moment and then continues with her tantrum. I rush to get out of the store. Ick.
Here's the thing....I can see why a person would feel the need to discipline someone else's child when the parents aren't around, or when they aren't actively trying to work with the child. But GEEZ, cut me a little slack lady. I'm not an iron-fisted ruler but I don't think I qualify as a slacker mom either.

From tonight's party

Notice the snazzy party hats Lolo made for everyone and Lolo's princess balloon :-)

Lolo's jumping game

Somewhere I was reading that by the time a kid is 4, they should be able to hop on one foot. Lolo doesn't quite have that concept down yet. So, we've been playing hopscotch (or as Lolo calls it - "the jumping game") to work on that skill. I don't know why this cracks me up so much.....
Video below

A preview

A preview of our work.

FYI - Lolo has had a haircut since this picture was taken.

Playground video

Since I've got a few moments to myself (PoPo is here for the weekend. Lolo and PoPo are outside drawing with chalk), I thought I'd go ahead and post this video from the other day. Lolo and Norah at the playground.

Birthday happenings

Jim came thisclose to getting a pink "Happy Birthday Princess" balloon. LOL! Lolo was insistent upon it at the store. Finally, after a bit of "talking to", she decided upon another balloon for dad (a more appropriate "Bob the Builder"), one for Norah (a red Pooh bear), and the pink princess balloon for herself.
Pics to come later.

Preschool orientation

Yesterday we went to Lolo's preschool orientation to meet her teachers (Miss Karen and Miss Deide) and see her new classroom. A little girl (Jacqueline) from down the street is in her class. They ended up playing tea party outside in the playhouse for a bit. Lolo saw her summer camp teacher and proudly told Miss Sandy that she was now potty trained.
Lolo and I baked daddy's cake yesterday. Iced it and decorated it this morning. There was a long discussion about the "happy birthday" letters. She was not really pleased when I told her those had to go in a certain order. Lolo is now busy making birthday hats for everyone. Norah is down for a nap. Photos to be uploaded later.