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!

Super Stuff - FINALLY!

(I've been working on this SUPER post since Monday...but I just haven't managed to finalize it to post.  Today is the day!  Better late than never, I guess, to jot down a few favorite memories from the week.)

Last week Daddy and the girls were on Spring Break.  We enjoyed Easter weekend.  AND the weather has finally started to warm!  Super was not hard to come by.

1)      The first part of the week was still pretty cool, and the girls asked to go for a ride in our jogging stroller.  We hadn’t been out with it in probably six months, and it was such a fun experience to travel our same “stroller route” that I did hundreds of times when they were younger.  My babies are much older now, but their delight at some of the same things – like the fountain in one garden, and the puppy dog statue at another house – has remained blissfully the same.

2)      One day Daddy had some errands to run, and he ate lunch while he was out.  He came home and the girls asked where he ate.  When he told them (a fast food restaurant), they were horrified.  “Daddy, that has chemicals! Why did you eat chemicals? YUCK!!!"  And I loved it.

3)      On Friday we toured the local fire station with our MoMs group.  The girls were beyond excited when I told them we were going, and they had an absolute blast seeing the fire trucks.  It was so much fun for me to watch them in a group setting, too.  Baby B was rather outspoken.  ;)

4)      After we toured the fire station, we walked around downtown for a little bit, and then we went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants – the girls’ choice.  It gives me so much pleasure to share a nice meal with the girls…especially when they act like such little ladies in a grown-up setting.

5)      Ahead of our tour on Friday, the girls helped me make some goodies to take to the fire station.  We made cinnamon-sugar pretzels, and I let them mix the butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture with the pretzels, using their hands.  I told them afterwards that that mixture was actually a nice exfoliant.  A day or so later, Baby A had some dry skin on her finger.  “Mommy, I need some……….” she started, struggling to find the next word.  “Cream?” I asked.  “No, that cinnamon-sugar mixture to get the dry skin off my finger!”

6)      For the first time since last fall, we’ve really PLAYED outside.  It’s been so much fun to dig out the bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and pinwheels.  It truly does the soul good to get some sunshine and warm air!

7)      On Saturday we took the girls for ice cream…the perfect way to celebrate a nice nap on a warm spring day.  I forgot to ask for their kiddie ‘cream in a cup, and I was quite surprised to see Hubby bringing two CONES to the girls.  I was so impressed with how they handled it, though!  Those were their first real cones (not soft-serve), and they managed with only a couple of drips.  It definitely felt like a big milestone!

8)      I got to enjoy my girls in short-sleeve shirts for the first time this season.  It always stops me in my tracks…to see those silky soft baby arms in action.

9)      One day, the unofficial “word of the day” – as apparently determined by the girls – seemed to be “enormous”.  They used it every chance they got. 

10)   The girls have helped fold laundry a couple of times this week.  They aren’t always so eager, but it’s so nice when they are…and even when they “compete” to see who can fold the most “enormous” pile.  I’ll take it!

11)   One night, shortly after I put the girls to bed, I got called upstairs, "Fix my blanket, Mommy!" I was rewarded for my response time with the tiniest, most precious, sleepy little voice..."Thank you, Mommy.”

12)   I was doing some cleaning this week and came across a handful of Beanie Babies from 15 or so years ago.  I sorted through and found two kittens, and I had them waiting on the girls one day after nap.  They were ELATED!  Baby A ran downstairs with hers and grabbed a Beanie Baby puppy their granddaddy gave them their first Christmas.  She put it facing the dog, and said, “She’s a tiny baby and she’s drinking from Smarty’s teats.”  Um...I think they generally consider Smarty a boy…and he’s a dog…but she was so concerned about taking care of her new baby kitty...it was really very sweet.  The girls have played with Kitten and Callie (the names they chose) every single day since.

13)   I bought the girls some very basic kites (meaning, they each cost $1!) a few months ago.  We hadn’t gotten them out until this past weekend.  Of course as soon as I got one assembled, the wind died down…but it was still so much fun to fly it a little bit.  The girls were in awe, too…even at it flying a whopping 15’ in the air.  “It’s soaring, Mommy!!!”  It's all relative to a four-year old...and that's a really sweet reminder, no matter your age.

I normally wouldn't finish on such a random number, but I'm ready to finally hit the "publish" button!  More next week, for sure!  :)

Super Stuff on a Sunday

Very thankful for a week filled with lots of fabulousness!

1)      Last Friday night we grilled, and for the first time as a family of four, we ate our dinner on the patio.  The girls had so much fun, and the best part – after grilled pineapple and ice cream for dessert – was running it off in the backyard, followed by a quick bath, and then falling into bed.

2)      This week was “Teacher Appreciation Week”.  Daddy got to leave school for lunch on Monday.  The girls were beyond surprised to see him greet us in the parking lot of one of our favorite sandwich places.

3)      We took an impromptu trip to the park on Tuesday.  We were expecting rain Tuesday night, and it was really overcast and breezy…perfect for running and playing…and we had the place to ourselves!

4)      By bedtime most days, the girls are very tired…which usually translates into wide-open silliness.  At times it’s pretty challenging to get our bedtime story read, the girls are so squirmy.  Most nights this week, though, the girls have been super snuggly.  They’ve sided up to me on the bed, as closely as they could, to listen to me read.  It sure makes for a sweet end to the day.

5)      When the girls woke up from their nap on Thursday, I told them I had a surprise for them.  They squealed with delight, and started bouncing and jumping and giggling like mad.  They were ecstatic to make an impromptu trip to the orchard…where they bounced and jumped and giggled some more.  Little delights like this make me think this has to the The Most Fun Age.

6)      Friday morning the girls and I went to Panera to share a bagel for our mid-morning snack.  We sat there for more than 30 minutes (and they would have stayed longer), watching the bulldozer and dump truck working in the parking lot.  Great (and FREE) entertainment!

7)      With the cooler weather much of this week, I decided to take the girls for a walk in their stroller.  We’ve been walking hand-in-hand so much these past few months, but it was such a nice change of pace (to pick up the pace and) to traverse our old route.

8)      The girls have been so sweet with their full-body hugs lately.  I told them they were like little koalas.  Baby B said one day, “I swung from a branch and I quickly gave my koala mommy a hug.”

9)      I made Mexican casserole for the first time in several months.  The girls will eat most anything, but they were particularly taken with this dish.  They devoured it…they kept saying, “This is so good!  Thank you for the nice meal, Mommy!”

10)   One night before bed, Baby A was talking about what she was going to cook for her babies for breakfast.  She kept mentioning “wuffles”.    Daddy tried to correct her pronunciation, but I just had to shush him…”wuffles” is just too stinkin’ cute!

11)   The girls have kept me entertained with some pretty wild pretend scenarios this week…going to Africa…going to space [“get your helmets!...we won’t be long, Mommy!”]…”I’m swimming with my dolphins in the sea…my bed is the sea, Mommy!”  I absolutely never know what’s coming next.

12)   I was cleaning the dishes from the table, when Baby A dropped her ponytail holder (or “pone”, as B calls it???).  I had to laugh when I heard her exclaim, “Oh, dear!”

Loving this fabulous life with my baby girls!