A Full Day, You Might Say!

{This post was written LAST weekend.  Proof that I can write...and then get lazy about pressing the PUBLISH button.  I'm trying, Y'all!}

Towards the end of the day yesterday, we began to recount all we'd done and accomplished.

- Worked on school projects.

- Daddy went to the hardware store and got a $7 gadget to fix the garbage disposal.  SCORE!

- We at lunch at 10:30...seriously...to allow us time for afternoon activities.

- We left the house at 11 to drop off one car at the dealership.

- We went to the university and dropped off the girls for their first Super Saturdays class.  They were a bit nervous, but super excited!

- After their classes, we went downtown to enjoy a snack...hot chocolate and a cookie were well-deserved!

- We picked up the car at the dealership and all headed home.

- 30 minutes of Quiet Time was well-deserved by this mama!

- We got dressed in workout gear and the girls and I headed to the climbing gym.  We were super disappointed when we arrived to see it was jam-packed.

- We buckled back in and decided to knock out our grocery shopping...sans list!  Living on the edge, I tell ya!

- We picked up boiled shrimp at the grocery and came home to that for dinner.  Easy-peasy.

- We hung out with the cats in the den uncharacteristically late...it was 8PM when the girls went to bed!

WHEW!  No wonder the weekends evaporate!

The Great Outdoors, and Other Wonderful Things

We had such a great weekend, and so much of it was spent outdoors.

Friday night the girls had a soccer game at 5:30.  Sure, that made for a hectic afternoon in some respects…but truly, what better way to leave the school/work week behind and do something FUN??!!!  And to top it off, Baby A’s teacher came to see the first half of her game.  She was ECSTATIC.  She definitely played with some extra pep in her step, and she scored two beautiful hard-fought goals!

Saturday morning, Daddy treated us to bagels from Panera.  We spent that morning mostly hanging out in the living room…we read and did puzzles before we had an early lunch.  (We hadn’t done a puzzle in quite a while.  What fun it was to join my girlies for some corner searching!)

Saturday afternoon we headed back to the soccer field.  It was such a gorgeous, sunny day…not too hot…PERFECT.

Loving my new zoom lens for my camera!!!  I won't share pictures that show other people's children, though...so here's a crop of my A in action.

After the game we went to get ice cream.  (And this mama might have enjoyed the smiles of strangers at seeing her babies in their uniforms.) 

Sunday morning we decided to make our first trip of the season to Lost River Cave.  For the first time, we took the cave tour (on a boat!).  The girls were super excited for that treat, and then we did our usual hike around the park.  We were delighted to discover a few new trails, and to visit our favorite trails, of course.

After a quick and yummy lunch at our favorite hangout, Home Café, we enjoyed a Sunday afternoon nap.  (At least Mommy and Daddy napped…I understand from the girls they played “camping and hunting for dinosaur bones.”  Like ya do!)

Late Sunday afternoon, we headed outside again.  The girls wanted to blow dandelions in the backyard.  Much to what I imagine was the neighbors' chagrin, we did just that.  

I love how you can see the dandelion seeds in this picture!

Quintessential B and her sensitive blue eyes.  :)

Then we played some front-yard soccer (scoring between Frisbees set up as goalposts)…we enjoyed some catch…and the girls asked if we could have a picnic supper.

While I’d intended to do some cooking for the week, I’m so thankful I let it go.  We had leftover pizza on paper plates on a blanket in the front yard.  And then the neighbor gifted the girls some new sidewalk chalk, and we all enjoyed that unexpected treat.

We finished the day with a bubble bath.  “This was the Best Day Ever!” Baby A proclaimed.  I think I might agree.

And then, for the grand finale, I gave the girls a new night-night story I picked up at Kohl’s, entitled “Swimmy”.  “What did you buy this for?” my B asked.  “Can’t Mommy sometimes buy you something, just because?” I responded.  That was met with the hugest smile.

 What a wonderful weekend I had with my precious baby girls…full of the great outdoors, peppered with some impromptu fun.  I couldn’t ask for more!

Return to "Normal"...at Least for Today

The girls have been in school now for 2 ½ weeks.  They love it, and I love that they love it.  What I don’t love, though, is how far away from our past-five-years “normal” our days are now.

I am up bright and early to get myself ready before I wake up the girls at 6:15.  We eat breakfast, and then I send them upstairs to brush their teeth and get dressed while I clean up the breakfast dishes and get dressed myself.  We fix hair and load lunchboxes, and we’re out the door by 7:20. 

The girls and I spend about 15 minutes waiting in the drop-off car line each morning.  I take a book and we read while we wait for the doors to open at 7:45.  I give them hugs and kisses and head to work.

After school, Daddy picks the girls up, and I try my best to get home by 5:30.  I heat up supper (I’ve cooked everything ahead of time), we eat and clean up…and we’re left with about 30 minutes (if everything goes as planned) to enjoy each other’s company before we begin our bedtime routine.

This is a million miles from the majority of our days to date…when we held our own schedules and had plenty of time to do what we wanted, when.

Today we enjoyed a throw-back to “normal”.  It was a busy day, but oh, so welcome.

The girls slept (more or less, anyway) until 7:00.  We got up, got dressed, and headed out to breakfast.  After breakfast, we went to one of our favorite hangouts, Lost River Cave.  It was incredibly HOT, so we didn’t hike all the trails, but we spent a good hour meandering around the grounds.

After our outdoor adventure, we began our weekend errands.  Daddy and the girls dropped me off at Walmart, while they headed to Target.  They picked me up, a week’s worth of groceries in tow, and we made a quick stop by Sam’s before heading home.

After encountering more than our fair share of spiderwebs during our morning hike, we headed straight for the shower.  The girls played around while I got towels and outfits, and then we all got squeaky clean.  We enjoyed a low-key lunch, and the girls got straight to playing while Mommy had a [glorious!] nap.

I was awoken by the sweetest Baby B.  “Mommy, can you come upstairs and play ‘party’ with us?”  Of course, I would love to!

The girls had worked hard to set up a birthday party for their stuffed kitties.  They were very proud to show me how they’d set the table, made a cake, and iced cupcakes.  (I was pretty impressed with how they pretended to use decorator icing!)  Baby A had made an elaborate play structure from Connectagons to entertain the party guests, and Baby B made a rainbow collage of foam shapes as a present.

We had a great time playing…and then the girls and I headed to the bookstore to buy the next book in the “Little House” series.  We enjoyed a yummy snack at the bookstore, and we had a great time browsing for books.  In addition to the Little House book, I indulged the girls with a book on spiders, one on the human brain, one on skyscrapers, and a new night-night story. 

We left the bookstore and headed to the craft store to pick up a couple of items.  We ran into a couple of the ladies we know there, who were all excited to hear about the girls’ kindergarten adventures.

After the craft store, we had one more quick stop, and we headed home.  The girls rode their bikes on the driveway (while Daddy was cutting the grass), while I made a quick supper.

We had a great dinner, and then we enjoyed some time with our new books.

It was the perfect day.  Yes, it was busy…especially in contrast to Baby A having asked on Friday if we could snuggle all day on Saturday…but it was great.

I am very thankful for this dose of the “old normal” as we’re creating our “new normal”, at least during the week.  And I'm looking forward to cashing in on those snuggles on Sunday.

Duck...Duck...Swing!

Saturday morning, we went to a local park with the intent of feeding the ducks in the small lake there.

This is one of those "iconic" family outings I've been looking forward to since the girls were born.

By the time we got up and at 'em, it was shortly after 10:00 when we got to the park. We finally spotted the ducks, but they weren't the least bit interested in our Cheerios, or in the bread that another family had for them. My guess is that other families had already had "iconic" experiences for the day, and the ducks were just full!

Fortunately, the girls didn't know what they were missing...they were excited just to be near the water and to see and hear the ducks.

We enjoyed the scenery for a little while, and then decided to head to the playground for a few minutes before lunch. The girls had a great time on the swings, and enjoyed watching the other children running around the play area.

Even without any up-close-and-personal duck encounters, this family foursome had an awesome Saturday morning.

Peachy-Keen!

"It's only going to be 90 degrees today," I told my hubby this morning. "We'd better get out and enjoy the cooler weather!"

It's sad, but true...the past few weeks, the heat has been nothing shy of oppressive, and we haven't spent much time outside all summer. This weekend the highs are "only" around 90, but highs in the upper 90's - with heat indexes well above 100 degrees - are supposed to return on Monday.

We decided to take a short drive to a local orchard. We carried the girls' morning snack and a picnic blanket. They enjoyed some blueberries and graham crackers with the beautiful orchard as a backdrop...

...and then we did a little clowning around.

We looked at lots of pretty flowers and made friends with a couple of seemingly-tame butterflies.

And then we grabbed a wagon and took the girls on a little tour. They had a blast as long as Daddy kept moving...I think they enjoyed the bumpity-bump-bump of the ride as much as the scenery.

We concluded our outing with some peach ice cream, and we bought a basket of gorgeous peaches to bring home. The girls enjoyed fresh peaches with their lunch, and Mommy has grand plans for peach cobbler on Sunday.

Yoga in the park last Saturday...a trip to the orchard this week...we may just have to make a habit of these Family Adventure Weekends!

Saturday...in the Park

...I think it was the 31st of July...

Hubby and I took the girls to Yoga in the Park this morning. They're still a little young, but I knew they would enjoy being outside and seeing the other kids.

I was able to coax them into doing several kiddie yoga poses by asking them to show a certain animal in baby sign language. They showed "giraffe" for tree pose, for example, and "bear" when they were asked to hug themselves. From afar, they just might have looked like miniature yogis, at least for a few select moments.

(Here we are with Auntie Shanda, the yoga instructor and my BFF...)

After the class, we spread out our blanket and enjoyed a little snack. Then the four of us kicked around the ball. Well, at least the intent was for the four of us to kick around the ball.

In actuality, Baby A alternately kicked the ball (she's actually pretty good at it!) and ran like a crazy lady, squealing all the while. Baby B alternately ran with the ball in her hands and rolled around in the grass, laughing at herself.

And while the crazy-lady-running and rolling-and-laughing made Daddy a little nervous, Mommy just loved seeing her baby girls having a good time.

(This picture makes it look like the girls are focused on playing soccer...especially in their Puma outfits!)

After such a fun-filled morning, the girls had a great afternoon nap, and we took things pretty easy the rest of the day. We had an extra long scrub in the tub before bed to rid ourselves of the remnants of the park (and the peanut butter we had for lunch, along with the chicken in cream sauce, avocado, and watermelon we had for dinner...the girls had it EVERYWHERE!).

Ahhh...gotta love the weekends!