Girls' Night Out!

We finally got the girls’ school supply list last week, and I’d been looking forward all week to our “date” on Thursday night to go shopping.  Hubby had open house at his school, so he dropped the girls off to me at precisely 4:30.  (Summer hours…woo hoo!)

The girls were all skippy across the parking lot, and I would have been, too, if I didn’t have on heels!

We decided to get our shopping done first.  We headed to Target and got everything we needed in just a few minutes.  Their list this year wasn’t very long, and everything on it was understandable.  The girls chose the colors of binders and notebooks they needed, and we were set.

From Target, we headed to our once-favorite Mexican restaurant, one we hadn’t visited as a family in several months now.  We enjoyed a yummy meal and some snuggle time.

After supper, I surprised the girls with a trip to the library.  You’d have thought they won the lottery!  We missed the library last week, and they’d been clamoring to go.

They picked out their books pretty quickly, and we had a lovely chat with the librarian.  She asked the girls about books they’d read.  I thought it was pretty impressive how many books / book series they said “yes” to!

When we got to the car, I told them how proud I was that they love to read, and how they should be proud of the many books they’ve read.  “It just comes natural!” Baby A responded.

I had one more surprise up my sleeve that evening…ice cream!  The girls really would have loved a cone, but the two places close by with cones have outside seating that I feared would still be wet after a late-afternoon rain.  We headed to the yogurt shop instead.  The girls chose their yogurt flavors and we sat on the indoor/outdoor side.  We had that entire part of the shop to ourselves, and we were all grooving to the music they were playing. 

“What kind of music is this, Mommy?” B asked.  I told her I would classify it as hip-hop.  “Well it has a very lively beat!” she said.  Hahaha!  And when my A finished her yogurt, she couldn’t resist dancing a bit.  That’s uncharacteristic, to see her so uninhibited in public, but I guess she felt comfortable since we had the place to herself.  She was busting a move, for sure!

(From a June trip to the yogurt shop...the same sweet smiles!)

We packed a lot into three hours (pushing out bedtime to accommodate), but we had so much simple fun, just the three of us.  

L.O.V.E.  

The Sweetest Day

Wednesday we had the sweetest day…one of those that just gives me pause to think what precious, BIG kiddos I have.

We didn’t have plans for the day, and it started with our usual breakfast and play time.  The girls wanted to build a bucket truck, which we did out of their Magformers, and then we built a Lincoln Log house to be “on fire” for said bucket truck to attend to.

Mid-morning, I had the idea to go to Nashville to look for some chairs we need for our office.  I ran the idea by Hubby, and he was all for it…all for the three of us going, and him “attending to the house”, that is.  While I was disappointed he didn’t join us, the girls and I had the absolute best time.

We headed out around 11…later than I would have liked…but we were in full roll-with-it mode.  We made it to the big mall, and we headed for Carter’s to buy some school clothes.  I reminded the girls, with it just being the three of us, that they would need to obey Mommy very carefully, and that I would need their help shopping.

They were fantastic! 

They walked with me throughout the store.  As I was looking for a particular color or size, they might help me, or they might walk to a nearby display to look at something different.  If they did they, they were great to say – unprompted – “I’m going to be right here, OK, Mommy?”

I know it helped that the store wasn’t crowded (and maybe that we were shopping for them!), but they were patient and polite and helpful.  It was actually FUN!

After we did our damage at Carter’s, we headed to Gymboree.  They were again the best sidekicks I could have asked for…holding the items we chose, helping me look for sizes, working together to decide what we should get.

By that time, we were all pretty hungry.  We opted for Macaroni Grill (one of Daddy’s faves…serves him right for not being with us!  HA!).  We had a lovely lunch, and then we headed to the middle of the mall to ride the carousel.  How I love that the girls still delight in that.

We left the mall and headed to do our chair shopping.  We took a little [unplanned] detour, but Mommy finally found her way to World Market.  The girls wanted to try out every.single.chair.there…but that was OK by me.  They did it politely, and I figure that’s one of the joys of being a kiddo.

By that time, we were all ready for a snack, so we found a Panera – one of our faves – and treated ourselves to TWO cookies.  It was such a treat for this mama to share with her babies. 

We were preparing to make the journey back home, when I spotted a Home Goods store.  Since we still hadn’t found the perfect office chairs, I asked the girls if they were up for one more stop.  Baby A was game, but Baby B I think would have preferred a late afternoon nap in the car.  She acquiesced, though, and we had a fun time going through all the goodies there.

I have made a concerted effort not to position shopping as any type of recreational activity.  We go to the store when we need something, and the vast majority of the time, we stick to our list.  I would position this a little differently to the girls, but this was just the best day of shopping and lunch and afternoon cookies I could have asked for. 

Before the girls were born, I imagined days like this together.  The stress of oversized double strollers and public potty phobias are behind us.  What a pleasure it is to be out and about on the town with my babies.

Things I'm Loving This Week

1)      GG visited us last week.  I love seeing how much the girls adore her, and her, the girls.

2)      I [finally!] bought the first “Little House on the Prairie” book for the girls.  They are in love!  We’ve read about 1/3 of the book already, in just two days.  Sweet memories from my childhood!

3)      One afternoon last week, when GG was here, the girls needed some down time.  I asked if they wanted to watch an episode of “Too Cute” on Animal Planet.  Baby A jumped into the corner of the couch, and invited B to sit in her lap.  Then B said, “Hold me, Sissy.”  They snuggled like this for an hour!

4)      We delivered GG to Nashville yesterday, to meet Uncle Tommy and Aunt Janet for her trip home.  On the car ride down, with five of us in the car, I sat between the girls’ car seats.  That little space is not really fit for a human, I now know.  I sat tall and straight and tried to keep my eyes closed most of the way, willing myself not to get car sick.  I may not have felt very well, but I had the sweetest company.  The girls kept stroking my arms with their sweet, tiny hands.  Sometimes we held hands, and they would kiss my fingers.  “I love you, Mommy,” they alternately whispered.  I could endure the torture of that seat again and again for those sweet nothings.

5)      During lunch with the family, Baby A asked me, “Do you think it’s OK if I sit in Uncle Tommy’s lap?”  Of course it was…he loved nothing more.  I watched the light in A’s eyes as she hung on his every word.

6)      After we ate lunch, I spied a big sale at one of my favorite shops.  B didn’t want to go (and Daddy certainly did not), but A did.  While Daddy and B drove around for a few minutes, Baby A helped me shop.  She was a great assistant!  She held the blouses I picked out, and as I tried them on, she kept saying, “What do you think about it so far?”…before I would even have it all the way on.  HA!

7)      This morning, the girls called me to take their picture.  “Come see, Mommy!  We’re two peas in a pod!”

I'm loving it!

Fab 5 Friday (Only 1 Day Late!)

It’s been so long since I’ve done this…I don’t even want to look back to see my last “fab” post.  Grrr!!!  I suppose there’s no time like the present to try to kick-start myself again.  So here ‘goes!

1)      After what seems to be running full speed these last few weeks, we took the entire day off on Sunday for some centered family time.  Hubby and I got up and dressed before the girls, and we hurried their clothes on when they got up at 6:30.  A couple of minutes after 7am, we were in the car, headed to Nashville.  We drove to the Pancake Pantry, a storied establishment, and waited in line (not too long) for our much-anticipated pancakes.  After eating way too much, we went to the zoo.  It had been way too long since we saw all our animal friends, and it was blissful to walk around in the cool sunshine.  After the zoo, we had a yummy lunch, and we rounded out the day with some shopping.  The day was exactly what we needed…an escape from work and home…and a focus on family and fun.  Love-love-love!!!

2)      On Monday, Baby A was so excited to go shopping for her new bead to celebrate losing her second tooth.  She and B waited like such big kids in the jewelry store, and A loved gazing at her new bead the rest of the day.  After the jewelry store, we went to the grocery store.  It was RAINING…HARD!...when we came out.  Thank goodness we had our hooded jackets, and we made a run for it.  Although it was kinda icky, it was also kinda fun to be splashing towards the car.  To the girls, it was one big adventure!

3)      The girls got new sunglasses as their Valentine’s Day treat.  They L-O-V-E them, and they are so stinkin’ cute!  I can’t get enough of seeing them in their cool new shades.

Waiting in line at the Pancake Pantry on Sunday morning...cute-cute-cute!!!

 4)      On Thursday after I picked the girls up from school, I needed to run by the grocery store for a couple of items.  I knew they wouldn’t be overjoyed at that prospect, so I told them what I knew would pep them up…”We’re going to get some asparagus!”  They squealed with delight.  We haven’t had asparagus in ages now, because it’s been so high, but one grocery store had it on sale this week.  It cracks me up sometimes to see what excites my babies.

5)      I told the girls a couple of times how I ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches almost every day when I was pregnant with them.  They’ve been wanting to try one for themselves, so I made them one on Friday.  “Oh, my body recognizes this!” Baby A proclaimed.  Hahaha!  Needless to say, the sandwiches were a hit!  And this mama enjoyed them, too, this time alongside her baby girls.

I love the little things...because in the end, you recognize they are the big things.  :) :)

SUPER Stuff on a Sunday!

So much silly, SUPER stuff at our house this week!

1)      Baby A came running up to me: “Mommy!  ‘Gulp’ has four letters!”  The girls are on the verge of sounding out words, and I thought that was pretty awesome!

2)      One sweet little memory I don’t want to forget is how excited the girls get to watch the chickens cooking on the rotisserie when we go to Sam’s.  They’ll stand there and wave, “Hey, chickens!”  Hahaha!

3)      At Sam’s, they have most of their prices displayed in really big signs (at least in comparison to regular grocery stores).  Baby A read almost every sign to me…correctly!  “Mommy, that costs fifteen dollars and eighty-seven cents!  Mommy, that costs five dollars and twenty-four cents!”  She solicited quite a few laughs from people shopping near us.

4)      On Wednesday, we’d planned to meet a friend at the park.  She had to reschedule, but the girls and I went ahead with a hike, a little bit of play time, and then a picnic lunch.  It was so incredibly pleasant, and it just made this mama’s heart smile!  The girls were full of pep on the 1.25-mile hike, even up the hills!  They played nicely for a few minutes on the playground, and didn’t protest or drag their feet when it was time to leave the playground.  We found a nice picnic table for our lunch.  I opened their containers, and they ate every morsel, with no spills and no requests for help.  WOW!

5)      On Friday morning the girls and I went to Panera for a mid-morning snack.  We’d been in the habit of doing that last school year, before doing our weekly grocery shopping, but we haven’t done it much over the last few months.  It was so nice to be back in familiar surroundings with my babies!

6)      We hadn’t been out for breakfast in a while, either, so we hit our favorite country-cooking restaurant on Saturday.  The girls ate French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon, and they didn’t leave a morsel on their plates!

7)      When we got home from breakfast, we decided on a family walk in the neighborhood.  The girls asked to go in their jogging stroller.  :)  Daddy and I took turns pushing them, and it was such a sweet throw-back to when they were smaller.  In fact, it was almost exactly four years ago we got that stroller…it’s served us well!

8)      On Saturday we needed to be at the new house to accept delivery on some appliances.  The house was cleaned a couple of days ago, so for the first time we got to relax a bit.  I took one of the girls’ storybooks, and we made official use of the reading room.  I loved seeing them lounging on the carpet, taking it all in!

My dream WINDOW SEAT is behind the girls!

9)      One morning I told B that she was a funny girl. "Yes," she said, "the funniest I've ever seen." She's humble, too.

10) And I overheard the girls playing…B said to A, "Sissy, do you want to go on a hunt for Christmas trees and dinosaur babies?" I love their imaginations (even if they do have their time periods a bit confused).

So thankful for this SUPER stuff!

Tips and Tricks for Making It through the Grocery Store with Two Four-Year Olds

Until the girls were about three, I mostly did my grocery store trips with them in their stroller.  The biggest trick to a smooth trip was to go at a time when they were content…not hungry or tired...and to try to make it as entertaining / educational as possible.  I narrated our entire trip…sometimes to the chagrin of bystanders trying to concentrate on their grocery lists.

When the girls turned three, I decided they were growing too big for our out-and-about tandem stroller.  I cautiously let them out…at first for very small trips…and it became a huge novelty to the girls.  It was such a treat to them to push the cart.  I continued to narrate…in a more interactive fashion…well, at least amid 1,012 reminders to “Help Mommy push!” and “Hands on the cart, please!”

Over the past couple of months, the girls have gotten less content with cart-pushing, and I’ve had to come up with some new tricks.  It sometimes feels like a circus show (but I’ve decided that’s just part of life these days!), but we’ve been getting through the store pretty well most trips.

The girls have been shopping with me for a long time now, and they know the layout of the store we shop most often.  I’ve been asking them, “B, the next item on the list is orange juice.  Do you know where to find it?”  The girls often surprise me…earlier in the week, B found our exact brand of juice (even though that’s not something the girls drink), and she accurately exclaimed, “This one has ‘some pulp’!”.

If the item isn’t too heavy, the girls are [more or less] tall enough to put it in the cart.  I am even indoctrinating them into my system of putting cool things in one area of the cart, shelf-stable separate from that.  That, of course, helps unloading the cart “in order”, which the girls are also learning to do.  [A little OCD training never hurt anyone!]

The girls are pretty helpful through the store, and then they love the produce section.  They enjoy getting the bags from the dispenser, and they help me pick our fruits and vegetables.  If they do a good job, their big reward is getting to weigh something.

The most challenging part of grocery shopping is the check-out line.  I’ve heard parents grumble all my life about the huge candy displays…and now I know why!  It’s not that my girls ask to buy things…but it seems near IMPOSSIBLE for them to keep their hands to themselves…especially if there’s a longer wait.

I’ve started playing “I Spy” with them…”Can you find a picture of a cow?”  As carefully as possible not to call attention to the inappropriate celebrity pictures, we’ll point out things on magazine covers.  I’ve discovered the page number callouts are great for reinforcing number recognition.  And we look at the price stickers, again for number recognition, and then we talk about what is more expensive and what is less expensive.

When the time comes, I give the girls one or two items to help unload to the belt, and then I ask them to come watch the cashier as she checks out our groceries.  I sometimes give them each a coupon to hand over at the end of the transaction.

Grocery shopping with two four-year olds is definitely a full-contact sport.  By the time we’re home, the last thing I want to do is unload the car and put things away...but at least we can make it home in one piece.   

I feel like the girls are learning something, and having two “helpers” at least is physically less-demanding than pushing a double stroller and pulling the grocery cart.  I admit, though…sometimes I long for the days of stroller confinement, particularly in the check-out line!

Super Stuff on a Monday

Very thankful for another super-filled week!

1)      The girls have been pretty proficient at writing their uppercase letters for a long time now.  This week, they’ve been very intent on practicing their lowercase letters.  They’re doing really well, and I never get enough of seeing their concentration.

2)      As a break from writing, I was working with the girls on some simple drawings.  I would draw something, like a bird, or a turtle, explaining as I went.  It was so fun to erase what I’d done and then see their attempts.  Most were really recognizable!

3)      We used to do this frequently, but we’d gotten out of the habit.  One day, as we were running errands, I re-introduced the idea of “counting syllables” to the girls.  Whereas we used to count words, they’ve been fixated on counting full sentences for the past few days.  They can’t seem to get enough!  It’s a great math exercise, too.

4)      On Thursday I had to meet with the builder at the new house for a few minutes.  I set the girls up in the car (in the driveway) with drawing pads and some magazines.  I was so incredibly proud how patiently they played…and I had to cackle when I opened the door to find all sorts of coupons from the magazines thrown over the front seats.  “Mommy, we found coupons for you!”

5)      I bought the girls some Crayola colored pencils this week, and they are IN LOVE.  They now have the precision of their skinny markers…in a non-messy form…and I think I am IN LOVE, too.  They’ve drawn some really intricate things, and they love to practice writing.

6)      The girls didn’t have school on Thursday, and I told them we’d have a special day.  They wanted to go to lunch at Cambridge Market, my favorite little bakery…and that was fine by me!  It makes me smile at what a grown-up lunch they ordered…a chicken salad sandwich on toasted swirl rye, a bowl of white bean chowder, and a cup of fresh fruit.  And they ate every morsel!

7)      I was completely astonished on Saturday morning…Daddy had run an errand and called on his way home.  We were talking about what we should do, and I said to him, “What do you think about K-I-T-E?” since it was a windy day.  Baby B thought for a moment, and then exclaimed, “K-I-T-E spells ‘kite’!  Mommy, let’s go to the park with our kites!”  Seriously.  I could not believe it!!!  The word ‘kite’ is part of one of their word puzzle sets, but it’s not anything we’ve ever focused on.  These little sponges amaze me!

 8)      On Saturday, blessed with more warm weather, we opted for a family hike at the local state park.  We hadn’t been since the fall, and it was so nice to hit all the trails.

9)      On Sunday, we had such a fun time celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.  The highlight for the girls was helping me make pretzel-M&M shamrocks…and they looked so stinkin’ cute in their aprons!

10)   B was on the verge of making a poor decision, and I gave her a very stern "mama look". I almost could not contain myself when she stared right back with the same expression...yikes!

11)   Baby A is still enjoying her little notebook, and her interest has really been piqued since getting her colored pencils.  This morning while I was making breakfast, she asked me how to write, “There was a very loud thunderstorm last night.”  It took some time…and three pages!...but she did it!

12)   And some of my favorite quotes from the week…

B: "Mommy, what protein are we having for breakfast?"

B: "Sissy, let's have a talk for a sec."

B: "Mommy, did God make Dr. Seuss thousands of years ago?" We have some work to do on the concept of time...and it's funny to see the girls try to synthesize the books we read, including some in Genesis, and a Dr. Seuss dinosaur book.

A: "Mommy, look! Eleven is ten fingers and one toe!"

Looking forward to another super week with my super little ladies!