Frigid Field Trip Fun!

The girls went on their first real field trip last week...it was so much fun! 

The trip was to the orchard, where we go every few weeks, but it was still a new adventure to experience everything with their classmates.  And there were a few things we'd never done, or hadn't done in a long time, like the hay ride, corn maze, pumpkin patch, and apple cider demonstration.

We've had a pretty warm fall so far, but last Friday was FRIGID!  Lows that morning were in the 20's...and the orchard is located at the highest point in the county.  I think the car registered 35 degrees as we were driving there about 9:00 that morning.  Yikes!

I broke out the girls' warm coats for the first time, and I have to say I loved seeing my little snow bunnies all bundled up.

At least we had warm sunshine...and by the end of the morning, we were able to shed our hood and our top layer.

Of course I snapped a few (or a hundred) pictures...

Trying for our traditional pumpkin shot...but it was pretty cold for big smiles, apparently.

Classmates A&B with K&K.

Love these fluffy snuggles!

Climbing hay bales while we waited for our hay ride.

Group shot of both preschool classes.  You can tell it was bright!!!

My precious babes on the hay ride.

Love the morning sun and the pigtails!!!

The girls were initially excited about the corn maze, but the tour leader warned all the kiddos to stay with their mommies.  "If you get lost, we'll pick you up tomorrow," he joked.  Apparently the joke was lost [no pun intended!] on most of the kids, though.

The girls were pretty tentative as we went through.  They did not want to let go my hands, even for me to snap a picture.  This was one of only a couple of shots I got.  Poor babes!

Sticking together!

After the corn maze, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  The girls must have picked up 20 pumpkins each before making their selections.

B, holding up one for consideration...

A, testing out the feel of this one...

Heading back to the hay ride.

At last it was time for a snack...apple cider and a sugar cookie.  Here are a few of the kiddos, posing with Mrs. D.

We played a bit on the playground before it was time to pack up.  I got one last picture of my by-then tired babies.  

A, trying to get B to stand up straight...HA!

We rounded out the morning by going to lunch with one of their classmates, and we came home and took a bubble bath in Mommy's giant tub.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Moving Day and the First Night in the New House

It’s so hard to believe it’s been over FOUR WEEKS since moving day!  It seems like yesterday in many ways, though, and I’m thankful I still remember some of the sweet details.  I definitely want to capture those before any more time slips by and I completely forget!

I originally had a different game plan for getting the girls to school on moving day but that fell through the day before the big move.  I was so incredibly thankful that Miss Demara, M&C’s mom, was off that day.  It was a huge stroke of luck that, particularly on very short notice, she was able to pick up the girls and take them to school in her van, which is obviously outfitted with two perfectly-sized car seats.

The girls didn’t mind that I wouldn’t be taking them to school.  They were super tickled to be riding in M&C’s carseats!

It dawned on me that morning that no one – apart from my husband and me – had ever driven the girls anywhere.  It was almost surreal to wave goodbye to them as they pulled out of my driveway.  They were smiling and waving back, flashing the “I love you” sign all the way.

I had scheduled “Aunt” S and “Aunt” K to pick up the girls from school.  They found their way to the bookstore, where they enjoyed a cookie and milk, and then a seat on Aunt S’s lap to read some books.  I know they had such a fun time!

The girls got home – to the new house! – just after Daddy did, the movers still having a few minutes to finish things up.  They were very excited, but thankfully not “wild”.  :)

The girls’ room was already set up, and I made sure they had everything they’d need for a relatively normal night-night, including a favorite bedtime story.  Miss Demara brought over supper, which was a huge blessing. 

We were running a bit behind our normal schedule, but we held our bedtime routine as close to “normal” as possible.

I put the girls in bed, bid them goodnight with the same words I’ve used since before they were born, and I closed the door to their room.

I was a bit nervous, knowing they were in a new space, of course, AND with this being their first night in big-girl beds.  I was listening to them over the monitor, and I thought I heard some commotion.  I went upstairs, maybe 30 minutes after I’d tucked them in.  I didn’t hear anything, so I turned out the light in the hall to head downstairs. 

I then heard B whisper, “She just turned it off.”  For some reason, that still strikes me as hilarious.  The girls always call me “Mommy” – to me, and to each other, and to anyone else.  I think that’s the first time I’d heard them use a standard pronoun.

I shrugged it off, though, and went back downstairs to sweep the floors.  Hubby had gone back to the old house for a few more items, so I was alone with my [supposedly] sleeping babes.

There was not a sound in the house, as we didn’t yet have cable or internet service.  I was exhausted, having had a couple of very late nights prior to the move, and an extremely full day of directing traffic.  I was lulled into cleaning mode when something caught the corner of my eye.

There stood Baby B, silently, at the bottom of the staircase.

YIKES!!!

I tried not to show my surprise, but to calmly show her back to bed.

On the way upstairs, we talked about calling Mommy if she needed something.  You do not come downstairs for me.  I will come to you.

My heartbeat eventually fell back into a normal pace, and the girls eventually went to sleep without further incident.

That was a day of many firsts, for sure…some very sweet, some bittersweet, and some downright hilarious…which is really pretty fitting.

Why I Haven't Been Blogging

Sigh.

I miss it.

I really thought by now…a full four weeks after having moved into the new house…I’d be back on track.

But I’m not.

After the first week or so, we were fully functional here.  We have all the necessities unpacked, and all of the main living spaces are in order.  I still have the office to organize, I still have my china and crystal to unpack, and there are a few random boxes that I don’t even want to think about delving into, but all in all, we’re in decent shape.

I just don’t feel like we’ve found our groove yet, though.

A big part of it is that things are downright busy, apart from all the house stuff.  I stopped to recognize on Saturday that the previous four days, we’d had somewhere to be, bright and early.  Tuesday and Thursday were school days; Wednesday the girls had flu shots; and Friday the girls had their field trip to the orchard. 

On days where we have to be somewhere in the mornings, I usually make my coffee in a travel mug.  That indicates I don’t have that precious time of the morning I’ve enjoyed for the past couple of years…the time after breakfast when the girls play nicely and Mommy has her coffee / computer time.  It has typically been during this time that I’ve written my blog posts…organized my to-do lists…gotten myself together for the day.

Hmmm…maybe that explains the helter-skelter feeling I can’t shake.

The other big factor, I’ve finally decided, is the new dynamic of the girls’ play spaces.  In our old house, the girls spent 90% of their waking time in the den, which was open to the kitchen.  They played in the living room, too, but that was just off the den.  In any case, they were always within 30 feet of me, at most.  All their toys were there, too.

In the new house, we haven’t really defined a play space on the main level.  We’re lacking a rug in the den, so although we have a bookshelf with some of the girls’ books, it’s not very inviting to sit down and read and play.

The girls have a fantastic play space in the bonus room.  It’s nothing short of awesome to see their toys so nicely organized, complete with a dress-up area and room for their play tent.  Although they’re closing in on five, though, they don’t have much experience playing totally by themselves.  They’ll play for short periods of time, but they haven’t been engaged for more than 30 minutes or so without needing a dose of Mommy.

We are really blessed to have a big basement, perfect for the indoor soccer ball and Frisbee.  That’s garnered the majority of the girls’ attention, the opportunity to run at full speed, any time they like.  That seems to call the girls away from their play room, too.

I say all this to say that the girls’ playtime is not as focused these days as it always has been.  I typically spend quite a bit of time playing with them every day, but I have always been able to step away for a bit of “quiet time” – for me and for them – in the early afternoon.

We just had a conversation today about how important some downtime is for all of us each afternoon.  I’m hoping to get back on track with that…for everyone’s sanity.

It’s all a process, I know.  And these are first-world problems, for sure.  But I’m ready to find our new groove and get back to basics (and to blogging).

The Story Behind the Picture

The girls had picture day at preschool on Thursday.  Of course I wanted to make pictures before they had pictures made.  :)

I put them in some dresses I bought at the end of spring, on clearance.  I opened up their new boots, and I got out of the laundry basket the tights we'd shopped for the day before.

The girls loved their ensembles, and they were tickled to tromp around the house for a few minutes in their new boots.  We don't wear shoes in our house, the only exception being when we have brand-new shoes.  I let them take a few laps before we banish the shoes to the garage.

It was a rainy morning, but the rain slacked up enough for us to venture onto our new front porch for our photo session.  The girls cooperated pretty nicely (although B was doing her typical squint, even though the skies were not-so-bright).

Cannot.Resist.Baby.Feet.

It was time to leave for school, so I told the girls they could walk around the front of the house and meet me in the garage.  By the time I got to the kitchen, I could hear B outside.  "Mommy!  Sissy fell and got muddy!"

Wha???  On PICTURE DAY??!!!  I gave A a quick once-over and determined she must have fallen squarely on her knees, muddying her tights.  Thank goodness she wasn't hurt, of course, and thank goodness she didn't get mud anywhere else.

But what to do about PICTURES???

I told the girls to stand perfectly still in the garage while I ran upstairs to their closet to look for more tights. 

No dice.

Fortunately, I remembered the bin of clothes to be donated that was in a random room in the basement.  I was able to find the girls' sweater tights from last year, which I hoped B could still wear.

I had B take off her tights and give them to A.  Last year's tights still fit B well enough.

I was impressed, if I do say so, with my quick thinking.  I think that muddy tights on PICTURE DAY, only 10 days into our New House Venture, might have otherwise sent me over the edge.

This being a couple of days behind me now, my blood pressure having returned to normal, I can finally say HOORAY for Picture Day antics that yielded a funny story-behind-the-pictures.  Hee hee!

The Girls' New Room!

We're still buried under boxes, and trekking between the "old" house and the "new" house = HOME, but I did finally download pictures from the last couple of weeks.  [Ack!!!  It's been ages!!!]  These are ones I captured on Tuesday before move-in day last Thursday, when I brought the girls to see their NEW ROOM!  They were SO excited!

Their first surprise was a ribbon wreath hanging on their door...they love it!

 

And then they opened the door!

Figuring out which bed is whose...

B, trying it out...

A, getting comfy...

Two PROUD babies, I have!!!

I knew their beds seemed really high with a regular box spring and a pillow-top mattress.  After I saw them CLIMB up and JUMP down, I decided we had to somehow lower them.  The furniture store traded me "bunkie" box springs for the regular ones, and now the beds are a much more palatable height.

I have moved one of the nightstands across the room so the girls have a place for their "OK to Wake" clock.  At night, I put their pillow shams to the sides of their beds, just in case they were to roll off the bed.  To date -- KNOCK ON WOOD -- everyone has slept super soundly...more proof, I think, that this moving business is hard work!

I am SO thankful that my babies love their big-kid beds so much...they're doing a fantastic job with this transition, and that makes this [tired] mama's heart smile.