Pool Party

The girls have been enjoying their free time off until school starts. However, even though we don't have many scheduled activities, we still seem to be swamped lately. On friday, the girls were invited to a neighbor's birthday pool party and Norah found a comfy spot to camp out. We won't be able to swim for much longer. It's supposed to get down to about 45 tonight. Summer is definitely winding down.

Jobs

Lolo has decided she wants to be a doctor like daddy. She doesn't like it when he goes off to work...so she has decided that she'll just go to work with him. I'm good with that.
Norah has decided she really likes pulling teeth. She pulled out Lolo first loose tooth during a quiet time in Mexico and helped Jim pull out the last one in Canada. Norah wants to be a dentist....specializing in pulling teeth, I suspect.
Speaking of teeth....last night, while we were out riding bikes, Lolo found a rock in the shape of a tooth. She decided to put it under her pillow to see if she could fool the tooth fairy. Hmmm. The tooth fairy was on to her.

More Canada Pics?

Unfortunately, most of our canada trip pictures were taken on PoPo's camera. Help me bug her to send us some pictures. There's a great picture of the girls catching fish. Lolo caught 5 fish. Norah caught 2. You wouldn't believe the size of fish a person could catch on a mini-princess fishing rod (complete with light up handle). Lots of swimming. Catching crawdads, frogs, toads, fish.....what a blast.

Chinese camp

A few photos from chinese camp. Lolo had a great time. Amazing how much a kid can learn in a month. She has already started to correct Jim's chinese accent!

Lolo's Chinese Camp Show

Here's a video of Lolo's performance at Chinese camp (look for her second from the right in the first row). Her shoe falls off mid-show. She makes me smile.

Canadian Tooth Fairy

3 teeth lost so far. A mexican toothfairy. A minnesota tooth fairy. And a canadian tooth fairy. Wonder who is next....

We're back

We're back in MN. Will be posting later this week. Today is crazy busy.

Dance Recital Part 4 - Lolo's solo

As I sit here waiting for this video to upload and process....

We're heading to a cabin outside of Montreal on saturday. Will be back the following saturday. No internet or phone access for a week. Should be an adventure. The girls have their fishing rods ready to go!

In unrelated news...we're pondering the thought of canceling our home phone and converting to just our cell phones. Contrary to our lifestyle since having children, I've actually started keeping my cell phone (a) on (b) charged and (c) I have a general idea of where it might be. My only hesitation is that Jim's phone seems to be slightly unreliable. And, actually, I had called Vonage to cancel our service earlier this week....in a brave moment, I decided to go cold turkey...but they offered us 6 months of very reduced rates and a free month. Still....I might cancel the service anyway. In light of Bank of Obama, Obama Motors, and Obama Care, we're very concerned about what the future holds....any way you slice it, doesn't look good. But that's a topic for another blog....

Dance Recital Part 3 - Norah's solo

Dance Recital Part 2

Dance Recital Part 1

I took a LOT of mini videos during today's "dance" recital....ok, in reality, it's a community center creative movement class...but the girls and I LOVE it. The first recital where BOTH our girls are in the same class. What a treat! The girls kept me in stitches. I couldn't stop grinning the whole time! Here's the first of several....

Salamanders

Norah and I took a class about salamanders today. Just getting Norah to say "salamander" was a big challenge. Lolo saw the picture and told Jim that Norah held a "lizard like thing". Norah was quick to point out that "No....it not a lizard!" It's an amphibian. (Of course she couldn't say that word either...but she was very clear that it's not a reptile).

Pokey Little Puppy or BobDog?

Picked Norah up from summer camp and she had turned into a puppy. The teacher said she was the Pokey Little Puppy (complete with dog collar)...but Jim thought she might be BobDog. And yes, our puppy HAD to eat dinner nakey.

Norah's turn on the monkeybars

Here's our other monkey on the bars. This little bragger...has been beaming about how she can do the monkey bars (ignoring the fact that she has to sit on someone's shoulders to "DO" the bars)...especially in light of the fact that we've asked Lolo to lay off of the bars until her hands heal up.

Monkey bars

Check out Lolo on the monkey bars. She's really amazing. Unfortunately, she was also playing in the sand....had sand sticking on her palms. A few times across the bars and she got these amazing blisters on both hands, which she then promptly busted.
Ohhhh. I believe you could probably hear her wailing in Tennessee. Luckily, Jim was here to fix her up. (Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse bandaids didn't hurt either).

Squid Ink Ice Cream

Went out for dinner tonight. Our favorite seafood place in the park. The girls wanted "Squid Ink" ice cream for a treat. (It was really black cherry....but stained like squid ink.) Check out Norah's mustache.

Baseball

We took the girls to a St Paul Saints game on saturday night....The highlight? Cherry snocones. Lolo asked me today on the way to summer camp, "Mama, when can we go to another baseball game?" Translation..."When can I get another cherry snocone?"

Nobody

This is classic Norah...."There's a girl at my school....I don't know her name. I just call her 'Nobody' ". Of course, Jim has to follow up and ask about Buffalo Hair.

Helmet shopping

The girls and I went to get Norah a new bike helmet. The old one wouldn't stay on her head very well. So we get the new helmet...she insists on wearing it into the grocery store. I'm sure people who saw us were just shaking there head "Oh that poor little girl....I wonder what is wrong with her and why she has to wear a helmet." I drew the line at dance class. Told her she wouldn't be able to dance very well with a helmet on.

Norah stories...

Seems like I've had a lot of Norah stories lately....
Yesterday, Norah and I spent the morning together. (It's always such a treat to have one on one time with each of the girls.) So I pick her up for a hug and say "Oh Norah Norah Norah." She looks me in the eye and replies "And my last name is 'Funny Funny Funny' "

Daredevil showoff

A while back, I had to go to the doctor and our neighbor, Nancy, went to pick up the girls at camp. Because Norah's still relatively new at the whole potty training business, I advised that Norah go potty before getting into Nancy's car.
This morning, I'm visiting with Nancy...she tells me that when Norah got her skinny little behind on the potty she looked up at Nancy, raised her arms high over her head, and crowed "Look! No hands!"

Back to Busy

I don't know who I was kidding. We don't know how to laze around. We've been running full steam again.
Lolo has been having tummy aches. Jim thinks it's stress from school. Last night, Lolo was complaining about a tummy ache before bedtime. Norah pipes up "I think we need to have a spoon of honey." (I give the girls a spoon of honey before bedtime for coughs instead of cough syrup). Jim got a good laugh about his little girl playing doctor at such a young age.