Tropical Storm Arthur

The first tropical storm of the year is due to pass over the Yucatan this evening. A slight bummer for us.

Post show update

Lolo loved the show. She came back beaming about how great it was. Jim sat back and eventually put on his sunglasses to try to get some shut eye.
Dinner was a blast. The girls played hard and are down, ready to get up, "in the middle of the night" for a 6am flight. I love that they are such "trip girls!"

Mexico

Before I forget....we're leaving for Mexico tomorrow (back next sunday). We'll be down in Soliman Bay. Taking a leisurely week with Meg, Sam, and the girls. Theoretically, I should be able to blog, but sometimes the Mexican sun, waves, and cerveza bring out the lazy in me.

Show with Dad

Lolo and Jim are out at a local children's theater production. Several of the neighborhood dads are taking their kids. Jim claims I've set him up on a "Daddy playdate" because the wives set everything up.

Lolo loves getting dressed up to go see a show. She picked out her "show" outfit and jewelry. So we had to take pre-show pictures.

Norah is home with me. I want her to take a good nap because we've got dinner plans with a bunch of neighbors after the show. Anyway, our little ham decided she didn't need a shirt ("No! I don't need shirt mama!") but she really wanted to be in the pictures. So, there you have it.

I really wanted to get a good picture of Jim and Lolo before their outing, but (as you know) Norah can't stand to be left out of anything.

Last day of preschool

Lolo's last day of preschool is tomorrow. Then it's time for summer vacation. I've decided to have Lolo's summer be a little more unstructured than usual. Swim school once a week. A week long art camp at the zoo. A few days at the zoo for classes about animals here and there. A week of dance camp and that's about it. Norah has tumbling class and swim lessons. Other than that, I'm hoping we'll spend a lot of time at the swimming pool.

The Magic Word is "Please"

The following exchange was heard at dinner tonight:
Norah: More milk!
Jim: More milk, what?
Norah: More milk. Hurry!

Happy But Chilly Memorial Day

Hard to believe but I'm going downstairs to turn on the heat in a bit. A chilly 49 degrees right now. I just checked online and the current temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska is 56.

We had some friends over for dinner. Sat out on our screened porch area. Turned on the portable heater. The girls always seem to enjoy having dinner with company...we usually have treats and lots of fruit ;-)

As you can imagine, today was a big day. A trip to the playground, a picnic, and then a dinner party....followed by a quick walk around the neighborhood. The girls (and parents) were exhausted.

All is well

Norah's back to her old self. Perky and mischevious. We have a rule at our house about "no feet where we eat." Norah is grinning up a storm at meal times these days because she is putting her knees on the table. In other news about our big girl....potty training is on the horizon. Our little girl has been consistently leaving deposits in her potty. Hooray! Lolo is so sweet to Norah. She brings her sister books and says to me "Don't worry mom. I'll sit here and watch her."
We're heading out to the playground in a bit for some out door fun. And later this afternoon, we're having some friends over for dinner.

Under the weather

Our poor Norah is under the weather today. She's been running a fever since last night. She's been very mommy-ish and sensitive about her feelings. Hopefully, things will clear up over the weekend. No big weekend plans for us. Jim's working.

You need bunny, guys?

Alarm clock Norah woke up before 6am this morning. Chirpy and bright-eyed, she climbs into our bed and asks "You need bunnies guys?"....with no response, she keeps asking her question until she gets the correct response. Yes we need bunnies. Our sweet girl happily climbs out, runs to her room, grabs both of her bunnies....one for dad, one for Nor.

School Carnival

Lolo's school picnic and carnival was tonight. The girls were so excited they couldn't/wouldn't eat their dinner. The most exciting part (besides the popcorn) was the inflatable bouncer...see video below. You can hear Norah squealing with delight. Lolo, Willem, and Michael are also in there bouncing with her.

Cry baby

We had multiple meltdowns this evening. Lolo kept tripping, slipping, and falling (she seems to be accident prone when she's tired...I don't know why). Lots of tears.
While we were brushing our teeth, Lolo was sniffing and sobbing about "poor Lolo" and how she "gets all the owwies." Norah, who can't stand to be left out of anything, proudly pipes up "I cry too. I cry baby."

More park photos

This is one of the neatest play structures I've seen at a playground. In no time at all my monkey climbed to the top and was hanging upside down. Jim tries to blame the "crazy" gene on my side of the family, but after talking to Gramma Peg this past week....it sounds like Jim got a bit of the "crazy" gene from his Granny Sue....the combination of his genes and mine makes for a pretty interesting day at the playground.

Beautiful spring day

We had a perfect spring day today. Ok it could have been about 10 degrees warmer but...it was warmer than Tennessee! LOL! We took a bike ride to the park, had a picnic, and played hard at the playground. As you can probably imagine, Norah took an amazing nap this afternoon.

Cove Lake

A few pictures from our morning at Cove Lake with YaYa. Can you believe it was colder in Tennessee on that day than it was in Minnesota? Crazy. Despite the cold, the park was a bit hit. A fun playground, eating outside, and getting to feed the geese. The girls were enthralled with the geese. One was particularly aggressive and given that it was taller (and probably weighed more) than our Norah, we kept the two separated.

Exhausted!

Well, I tried to save money by convincing myself it just wasn't worth paying extortionist-price-gouging rates for a direct flight. This afternoon, I'm kind of wondering if I should have gone with a spendier flight that didn't require us to wake up at 3am.
The girls are beyond-exhausted.
Yep, as I hang my head in shame, they were both bribed to keep quiet on the plane with ipods. Full meltdowns didn't occur until we walked in the front door.
Thankfully, the memory and pain of this morning's flight will subside with time.
Photos to be uploaded at a later date.

More from the girls' "pool"

More from Tennessee

The girls have been really enjoying their time with Gramma Peg & PopPaul...especially time in the hot tub.

Swimsuit Model

I didn't pack the girls' swimsuits. When we got to Tennessee, I remembered that Gramma Peg has a hot tub. So we went to WalMart and got suits for the girls. Here's Norah, modeling.

Circus and More

Lolo was outstanding in the circus performance. Unfortunately, it was too dark to take good pictures.
We're heading to Knoxville today....visiting with Gramma Peg & PopPaul and attending Meg's graduation.

Mrs Piggle Wiggle and More

I'm such a slacker mom. Did you about give up on new posts to this blog?

We had such a busy weekend and are just now starting to recover. The girls and I went to see The Magic Mrs. Piggle Wiggle on saturday. We all got dressed up. The girls picked out their own outfits. Notice how Norah did a double-dress style. Big day at the theater...Willem and his mom, Olivia, Nicholas, and baby Gabriella and their mom joined us. Afterwards, exhausted and hungry, the kids came home for lunch and Norah collapsed for a nap. Lolo went out bike riding with Willem & Michael. And then, the whole crew that joined us at the theatre came over for dinner. In hindsight, that was WAY too much stimulation for the girls. Major tantrums at bedtime.

So we tried to have a quiet sunday. Beautiful afternoon. So we spread out in the backyard and had a picnic. Then, we decided to go out for a bike ride. Ran into our neighbors and the girls played really really hard. Uh oh. So much for a quiet day to recoup. Over stimulated again. Another tough bedtime.

Monday was swim school. And then a late afternoon circus rehearsal that lasted way too long. Bedtime went a little smoother. I think we may be starting to get back on track.

Bunnies, ducks and more

It's been quite a spring here in Minnesota. The weather has been warming up. The girls and I have been trying to get out and about after dinner every evening. The other day, Lolo found a bunny foot (minus the bunny) in our backyard. Lolo asked where the rest of the bunny was. I didn't have the heart to tell her it had been eaten. (Probably by the red fox roaming our neighborhood). So I said perhaps we ought to keep our eyes open for a three legged bunny in our yard. Later Lolo looks at me and says with all seriousness, "Mom, I think the rest of the bunny got eaten. It's a wild animal you know." Smart kid. I think she was trying to break the news to me gently ;-)
This morning, Nancy took the girls out. Norah pointed to our roof and said there were ducks on the roof. Sure enough. There was a pair of Mallard ducks up there. Good eye Nor!
Photos above from Lolo's preschool.