Flossing

The girls are so into flossing these days. This morning, Norah is sitting at the kitchen table. (Don't read on if you're squimish). And midway through breakfast, she pulls out some floss and starts flossing at the table. Hmm. Puzzling. I didn't give her any floss this morning. I ask "Norah, where did that floss come from?" Norah replies "I found it on my foot."

Growth Spurt

Lolo's getting ready for another growth spurt. She's been eating like crazy lately. Last night, she had 3 pancakes (yes, we had pancakes for dinner...bad mom...we spent too much time at the pool and got home later than usual...but in my bad mom defense, they were whole wheat banana pecan). Usually, I make the girls one big pancake each. Lolo polished hers off and wanted one more. No problem. The second went down as quick as the first. Still hungry. Unbelieveable.

Green Bean Princess Part 2

Lolo decides she doesn't want to be a Green Bean Princess anymore. The way she figures it...Eileen has her own castle; Lolo can have her own castle....and therefore, Lolo can be a Green Bean Queen too! Lolo has appointed Norah the assistant Queen.
We love her gumption and how she wants to be in charge!

Falling down on the job

Tonight at dinner, we notice Lolo did not do her "job" properly and not everyone got a napkin at dinner. Jim said something about how "someone was falling down on the job....seems like it was Lolo." We're all talking about everyone doing their job, when Norah pipes up "No, it not Lolo." Norah was the one who fell down on the job. A moment of puzzlement.
Until we realize, Norah was talking about the dinner preparation. The girls were helping me with the noodles (Lolo on a step stool, Norah on her chair). When they were done, Lolo hopped off to work on something else. And Norah, yep, you guess it....toppled off the chair and "fell down on the job."

Daddy's little helper

Jim got paged this morning and couldn't find the phone. Norah piped up "Oh! I give Daddy my Dora phone!" Thump thump thump. She's off like a bullet trying to help her dad.

Green Bean Princesses

One of our side dishes at dinner was stir fried green beans. The first thing Lolo says is "Mama I don't like this." And of course, our echo, Norah, repeats "Mama I don't like this." Ugh.
Luckily, yesterday when we picked up our veggie basket from the CSA and split the share with Eileen and Julia's family, their mom mentioned that they called Eileen the "Green Bean Queen" because she loved beans so much. Bingo.
So I tell the girls....you know, girls, Eileen is the Green Bean Queen....if you eat your beans I bet you could be Green Bean Princesses. LOL! Sometimes I can't believe the stuff that comes out of my mouth. More importantly, I can't believe what the girls will go for....the next thing I know, the girls have polished off ALL of the green beans between the two of them and used the sauce to finish off an extra serving of rice. Unbelieveable. So there you have it. Our two Green Bean Princesses.

Another Milestone

We are now officially "baby-gate-free". Woo hoo!

Regular week of summer

So here we are in the middle of summer vacation....the girls are scheduled to have a couple of "normal" weeks. Norah finished up her tumbling class on monday. Lolo and I had a class at Como Zoo today to learn about flamingos. I'm currently in the midst of trying to figure out our schedule for the fall. Lolo is pretty much locked in, but Norah needs another scheduled activity.

And we're back...

Jim and I completed our basic keelboat class earlier this week and then headed up to Lake Superior for a bit more sailing. Jim's now bareboat certified. (I didn't get around to reading the books).
The girls stayed here with Nancy, Eileen & Julia. Apparently, there was big fun going on all weekend. This morning, when I was fixing breakfast for the girls, Lolo asks me "Mom, when are you going on another trip?" I ask why. She says "I want Eileen & Julia to spend the night."Only 4 years old and already scheming to get her parents out of the house for a wild time.

Pictures at Last

Forgetting how to blog

Did you think I forgot how to blog? I'm such a slacker.
We've been busy in the pool. And, I finally got caught up with my work so that Lolo and I could go climbing on friday afternoon. Plus, I've been taking diving classes. But, enough excuses....about the girls....
The newest game at our home involves Norah pretending she's Lolo's baby lion. The baby lion sleeps in the cage in our living room (ie two laundry baskets). It's actually quite amusing. The girls can "play lion" for a long time.
Jim and I are taking sailing classes on Lake Minnetonka this week. The two of us will be heading up to the Apostle Islands on Thursday to take more lessons (actually, Jim's taking another class and I'll just practice being his crew). The girls will be staying here with Nancy...and since we're actually going to be taking the Thursday class with our neighbors, Eileen & Julia will be staying here with our girls as well. It's going to be a big party here this weekend.
I'm having trouble uploading pictures right now. I keep getting blogger error messages. Will try again later.

Slide burns

We've had a busy, busy day today. The girls and I went to the playground this morning...the one I have to bike to with kids in tow....the one with the huge three story slide. Norah usually goes down the "smaller" one (the gentler 2 story slide). Today, we're there with a bunch of kids from a kindergarten playgroup and Norah gets it in her brain that she wants to slide down the big fast slide with Lolo. I tell her that slide is really fast and it's for big kids. I get distracted talking to another mom and the next thing you know I hear Norah crying. She followed Lolo down the big slide...slid down on her tummy, got a slide burn on her tummy (because it's so fast), and scared herself silly. That said, now that she's come down it, I think she'll be going down that slide again with the appropriate attire.
I have to say, it is a scary slide. I always hit the brakes with my feet when I go down it with the kids. Later in the day, Lolo shows Norah that she got slide burn on her booty. I think we're going to have to wear pants and tuck in our shirts to ride that slide from now on.

Hallelujah!

As most of you know, our prayers at mealtimes end with an enthusiastic "Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!"
Our curly-haired rascal has taken it to a new level (unfortunately encouraged by our bad parenting). When Norah is overcome with the Spirit, she now proclaims "Hallelujah! Shake your booty!" Of course, Jim and I bust out laughing...and now, Norah feels the Spirit a lot.

I love you Norah

And the poor mom saga continues....
Lately, when I hug Norah and say "I love you Norah." She looks up at me with a wicked grin and says "I love Daddy."
Poor me.
Dear sweet Lolo will always come to my side and say "I love you Mom."
That's my girl.

A little bragging

Here's a bit of bragging on my part (just a little bit)...Lolo colored this bird this weekend. Jim and I were stunned. We both thought it was just beautiful. (gush, gush, gush).

Growing girl

I forgot to mention...Norah is now 26 lbs!!

Weekly update

The girls are still not on schedule. They're falling asleep around 8:30pm and waking up tired. I can't believe it has been so hard to get back on track.
In other news, Lolo had her two cavities filled this week and we had her teeth sealed. She did great. The dentist didn't even have to use novacaine.
Norah had an appointment with the pulmonologist this morning. We're going to keep her off of medicine and only use the asthma medicine during colds as needed. I'm hopeful that she will do well this winter.
Jim's on call this weekend. The girls and I will probably just hang out and go to the pool.