The Countdown Begins!

Today starts our countdown to Valentine's Day.  It's not much...a little treat for each of seven days, including V-Day.  Today's confection is two dark chocolate-covered almonds, something small that will fit in the countdown pill box.

The girls haven't said anything about it this year, so I imagine they'll be super surprised to see what's waiting on them at the breakfast table.  And of course I can't wait to see their faces and hear their glee!

And of course the anticipation of the holiday makes me think back to some of our fun holidays past.  The girls were two in this first real Valentine's Day celebration.  Look at those adorable faces and their "Peace & Love" onesies!!!

Baby B

Baby A

And beyond the special Valentine's Day breakfast, we celebrated further with dinner downtown, the girls decked out in some of my favorite dresses ever.

Nose kiss for Sissy!

Three ladies on a mission!

I love any opportunity to celebrate with my loves...and any opportunity to take a trip down Memory Lane!

Thank you, as always, to the marvelous Cheryl at Twinfatuation for the Way-Back-Whenesday inspiration!!!

Father's Day Top 10

Every year for Father's Day, I put together a list, "The Top 10 Reasons We Think You're the Best Daddy in the World."  The past couple of years, the girls have largely come up with the list themselves.  I love this snapshot in time each June.

On this year's list:

10. You are the best snowman builder, and you push us (and Mommy) on our sleds when it snows.

9. You’ve taken us to some amazing places this year, including Chicago, New York, and St. Louis…fun!!!

8. You enjoy watching the Berenstain Bears almost as much as we do.

7. You take us on interesting adventures, like searching for the “Anna” sign and finding fresh eggs.

6. You play Connect Four and UNO like a champ…and you don’t “hot dog” too much (most of the time).

5. You bought us soccer cleats and shin guards, and we are SO excited to play soccer.

4. You pick us up from school every day with a big smile and a warm hug.

3. You help us with our homework.  You make learning fun!

2. You take care of our furry brothers Miki and Alex.

1. YOU’RE OURS.

The girls and I had fun making this picture collage, too.  D-A-D-D-Y!!!

Happy Father's Day to one of my two favorite dads!

And Happy Father's Day to my original favorite dad, whom we got to see just last week.

My heart is happy!!!

The Hunt for Hearts

The past three years, the girls have had such a blast with their Advent calendars at Christmas.  I've been thinking for a while about doing something around Valentine's Day...but, to be honest, I'm usually pretty tuckered out come February from Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/the girls' birthday in January.

This year, I had an idea to count down just the week of Valentine's.  That seemed doable.  I made this cute little box for each of them (using a pill box from the dollar store), and they LOVED getting a small treat every day leading up to Valentine's Day.

The girls' treats were mostly small candies...a Hershey's Kiss one day, and a few M&M's another.  Mid-week, they got a "task" to make Valentine's puppy chow for their teachers, and they loved that!  And on Saturday, Valentine's Day, I decided to take another page from their Christmas Advent playbook.

The girls opened the final compartment to find a clue, leading them on a Heart Hunt!

(B dressed herself "for Valentine's Day" bright and early...down to her socks!!!)

Valentine, Valentine, here’s a hint…

Look for a clue inside your tent!

  

Valentine, Valentine, it’s you I love!

Look for a clue by Mommy’s tub!

Valentine, Valentine, if you please,

Look for a clue where we hang the keys!

Valentine, Valentine, take a look…

Find a clue among your books!

Valentine, Valentine, you don’t have to race,

Find your gift by the fireplace!

By the fireplace, the girls found their goodies...a new book (from the Mercer the Pig series), ones they could read themselves!  And they had a "voucher" I made with a pass to the movies.

I loved being able to incorporate a little bit of the girls' holiday fun into Valentine's Day.  It makes my heart dance to see their excitement!

LOVE!!!

How to Get Your Kid NOT to Like Jellybeans

It wasn’t intentional.  But I’m certainly not going to beg you to eat jellybeans.  They’re not exactly prominent on the food guide pyramid…and…if you don’t eat them, there’s more for Mommy.

For Christmas I got a beautiful jar of Jelly Belly jellybeans.  It was really an awesome gift…in addition to the beautiful jar…it was an edible, delectable confection that didn’t have to be consumed in the midst of all the holiday goodies we always have on hand.

The girls were drawn to the beautiful colors, though, and they did NOT want to wait until a beautiful spring day to break open the seal.  I held them off until some time in January, when I finally acquiesced to opening the jar.

I didn’t go through a very detailed process in selecting approximately 6 jellybeans as part of their afternoon snack (in addition to nuts and pretzels, if I recall).  Apparently the girls each landed a cinnamon flavor Jelly Belly, though…and those are a bit on the spicy side.

They were not impressed.  At all.

A week or so later, before I had polished off the jar (!!!), I asked the girls if they wanted more jellybeans.  They both declined.  I promised I would be on the lookout for any mean flavors, but they refused.

OK.  Suit yourselves!  More for Mommy!

For Valentine’s Day, I ran upon the cutest miniature boxes of Jelly Belly jellybeans, and I bought one for each of the girls as the treat in their little heart-shaped bags.  They didn’t much react…but I didn't think much of it, figuring maybe they were taken with the cool new sunglasses I gave them.

Later that week, I opened one of the little boxes and again awarded them six jellybeans.  I read the flavors on the back of the box, assuring them there weren’t any spicy beans to be found.

I think my A ate her jellybeans, but B only had a couple.  One she remarked tasted “like dirt”...maybe the coconut one?  Yikes!

I didn’t think much about this until St. Patrick’s Day.  The Jelly Belly jellybeans were long gone, but I’d just gotten the first bag of the season of Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs.  I found two green ones, and one white, for each of the girls (in addition to nuts and pretzels, served in green bowls).  I thought they would be delighted at the festiveness.

While A was more excited, B didn’t say much.  After snack, I noticed she’d eaten her almonds and her pretzels, but left the jellybeans untouched.

The poor kid is scarred.

I certainly didn’t mean to ruin her for life, but I guess there are worse things than not developing a taste for jellybeans.  Oh, and did I mention that means there’s more for me???

Pictures from Our Christmas Morn

After a marathon trip to Sweet Home Alabama, we were thankful to have such a wonderful, low-key, family-centered Christmas Day at home.

The girls love the toys they got...they've played and played and played.  It's been simply blissful for us all!

Here is the story of our Christmas Day, as told [mostly] in pictures.

The girls got up to find a very complex marble run!

Moments later, it was in a pile...but that just prompted the girls to come up with their own design.

One of the huge highlights was giving Sasha her gifts...

She LOVES her catnip banana!!!

Sweet sissies, watching their furry sister Sasha playing.

The girls were ecstatic to open their stockings!  New art supplies were a big hit!

And then it was time for a big, yummy breakfast.

My Christmas tree tart and bacon-wrapped smokies...yum!

Opening gifts!

Mommy and her little penguins...LOVE.

My favorite picture of the day!

Sasha loves her new bed, put in her favorite dining room chair, in the sun.

And the rest of our day, and the couple of days since, have looked a lot like this...bliss!

So thankful for a wonderful {continued!} holiday with my loves.

Facebook Fodder

I’ve been missing my SUPER STUFF posts for way too long.  I’m getting back on track this week, but first I had to dig through my Facebook archives to capture some of the funnies from the past couple of months.  

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Hubby likes to tease me that I'm from the boonies, and the girls think it's hilarious. Out of the blue yesterday, completely of her own accord, B said, "I'm part Booney, and part Yugoslav." Hahaha! At least she's proud of her heritage!

Singing: "Halloween is coming! Trick or treat! Trick or treat! We're going to be CATS!" I made the mistake of letting the girls sample some candy corn. I wouldn't have thought that three pieces would give them a sugar high, but that's the only thing I can figure.

B was explaining something to me, "Well, see, Mommy, that's a different concept."  Her delivery never ceases to crack me up.

We were at the mall today, and they had a bluesy version of "Let It Snow" playing in one store. "MOMMY!!! It's MICHAEL BUBLE!!!" She was beyond excited...even when I told her that other people sing that song, too.

The girls are very into realistic pretend play...I just heard them pretending one of their stuffed cats threw up. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. HA!

Life lessons today. I taught the girls how to clean the toilets, and they are beside themselves with joy. HA!

1.     The girls love big band music.

2.     The girls recently learned to "play" air guitar.

3.     The girls requested big band music this afternoon.

4.     B just said, "Mommy, traditionally I like to dance like this [insert mellow shuffle], but now I like  to dance like this [insert air guitar...although I couldn't pick out the guitar in 'In the Mood']."

5.     I am trying to keep a straight face

B, very pensively: "Mommy...that cookie I ate...it just made me feel really good."

The girls were asking how long until supper, and I said five minutes. Husband taught them to clarify, "Five SOUTHERN minutes, or five NORMAL minutes?" HA! For the record, supper will be ready precisely in five SOUTHERN minutes.

And after sleeping in for a whopping 15 minutes, my B said, "Mommy, every time I wake up, it makes me want to go back to sleep." HA! You're welcome to sleep as long as you'd like, my darling!

B: Can turkeys swim?
A, the diplomat: I don't know. If they can, that's good, but if they can't, that's OK.
Never a dull moment.

"And I will dig through the crust, and the mantle, down into the core, and I will hide it and you will not find it." Baby A was taunting Baby B, which warranted a reprimand...but I couldn't help but be kinda proud of how she did it.

It's not yet 8:30, and so far we have talked about the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Fourth of July, and why we speak English....the meaning of Christmas and Easter....where coffee comes from and how it's made. Bring it on, Saturday!

We've been reading Christmas books since Friday, and the girls have been drawing the manger scene (as they describe it) any chance they get. They usually draw themselves, with Baby Jesus in the middle. Except sometimes Jesus looks like a cat. I'm hoping it's the thought that counts???

B, of her colored pencils: "I really like these. They're efficient." How so? "They let me color really fast." Makes me laugh.

"I just love the illustrations in this book, Mommy. Even when I'm just looking at them when I'm reading to myself, they're altogether beautiful." Quote, unquote. These kiddos make me smile.

I made turkey tettrazini with our Thanksgiving leftovers. B was very honest, saying, "This is better than I thought it would be." HA! And then A added, "But it makes me sleepy." Oh, well, they both asked for seconds, and their commentary still makes me laugh to think about it.

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So thankful for these little tidbits.