Super Stuff!!!

One of the biggest super things about the past week is that our girls made it through the Independence Day holiday largely unscathed by the raucous fireworks displays every evening in our neighborhood.  Baby A woke up in a panic a couple of times, early on, but the girls slept through 99% of the madness.

I attribute this largely to the fact that they haven’t napped (the ONLY silver lining I can find to note in that development!)…the poor babes are EX-HAUS-TED at the end of the day.

So what else made this past week super???

1)      We had a small get-together of preschool friends at the park on Wednesday morning.  It was so sweet to see the girls and their friends (and for me to catch up with their mamas!).

Running to the playground!

 2)      On Thursday we celebrated the 4^th of July by having our dear friends over for dinner.  Among many other highlights, my very favorite was seeing the girls absolutely enamored with precious Baby Girl A, then 2 ½ weeks old.  The girls had never seen a baby that small before, and they could not take their eyes off her.

3)      We celebrated the girls’ half birthday on Friday.  We had such a fun family day, and one of the unanticipated highlights (for me!) was how neatly the girls ate their cupcakes.  I was prepared to wipe them down afterwards, but I hardly needed to!  It was nice…but maybe a bit bittersweet, too.  After all, there’s something pretty adorable about icing-covered babes.

4)      I wish I could have recorded the girls as we sang “Happy Half Birthday” – twice, of course.  Baby A sang right along with us as we serenaded her.  When it was B’s turn, though, she sat so still, with a huge smile on her face, as she listened to the three of us.  It was so sweet to see how differently they soaked it all in.

5)      On Saturday we went to a birthday party for a very sweet two-year old.  The girls were tickled to decorate the wrapping paper for her gifts, and they had such a good time at the bounce house party.  While none of the other parents jumped, the girls absolutely insisted I get in with them.  Eventually I could not deny their repeated requests…and this mama had a blast, too!

6)      At the bounce house, they had a DJ set up, playing kiddie songs and doing karaoke.  B was watching very intently as another couple of kids sang songs.  I asked her if she wanted to sing, and to my surprise, she said YES!  She started with Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and then did a medley of kiddie songs.  The DJ asked if she wanted to continue, and she then did a medley of kiddie church songs, too.  I could not believe how much fun she was having, standing on stage in front of everyone!!!  (Baby A was very content to stand with Mommy and cheer her sister on.)

7)      On Sunday morning, after what seems like day after day after day of rain, we made an impromptu decision to go to the zoo.  We’ve been so busy this summer, I cannot believe this was our first trip since May!  It was so nice to see all our beloved animal friends.

8)      After we made our rounds at the zoo and had lunch at a favorite restaurant, we made another impromptu decision, to travel to the next town over to try to find a former professor / colleague we knew in Alabama.  It took a little detective work, but it was so cool to see him after 13 years, and to see our girlies sitting there chatting it up with his family.

9)      We celebrated Daddy’s and Sasha’s birthdays on Monday.  The girls had a very large time decorating wrapping paper, and they were mesmerized to watch Sasha enjoy her new catnip pillow.

Sasha hugging her pillow, amid the pieces of laundry she's collected this week.

10)   All day, they kept calling Daddy, “Birthday boy.”  As in, “Come here, Birthday Boy, let me give you a kiss.”  Hahaha!

Taking Daddy to lunch for his birthday!

11)   B loves to make up songs, and it always cracks me up to listen to the lyrics.  I was slightly disturbed by one of her most recent medleys, though: "Run, little bunny, run, run...the fox is out in the woods."  I believe that was a take from “Bunny’s Noisy Book”, one of our favorite nighttime stories, but it still seemed so ominous for a four-year old!

12)   And in another installment of Baby B explains the world: "I can think about two things at once, because my brain has two halves."

So thankful for this super stuff!!!