'Remorial Day' anecdotes

I am bummed I have to go back to work tomorrow after a nice 3-day weekend.

Maddie and Faith were so funny, and wanted to shake Daddy's hand tonight before going up to bed. It was 'Remorial Day' and they kept saying "it is a day to honor soldiers." It was cute. Maddie has no memory whatsoever of the first 18 months of her life that were spent in Shreveport while Dan was at Barksdale AFB.

We went to Weaver's this morning to pick more strawberries. We are in love with their strawberries from the field; they are absolutely delicious. We had already finished what we had picked last week, and I really wanted to make a strawberry pie. So, the girlies had a blast picking with Dan. And, I was also excited that my strawberry pie came out well.

Today's anecdotes:

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Cousins Tyler and Molly stopped over for a short while this afternoon, and they had a great time. Tyler accidentally knocked over the girlies' Playmobil dollhouse (their elaborate one with all their extreme 'set-up's), and so Maddie and Kyle became 'Team Rescue' and worked to rebuild it, which was quite a feat. During the process of putting it back together, Maddie told Kyle "This is awesome... actually, I'm being sarcastic." !!!!!!!! My girl put some new vocab to work, and yet it didn't quite come out sounding very polite. Haha!

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On the way to Weaver's this morning, Faith was singing at the top of her lungs. Maddie was too, but Faith's song was absolutely hilarious. She was singing a 'love song.' It was a lovely song about a princess and prince falling in love, but this is how it ended: "and when he looked me into the eyes, he said 'what the heck you talking about?'" Dan and I couldn't stop laughing.

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Our Abrie is our little pup these days. The girl goes to the back door, points, grunts, and whimpers. If you ask her, "do you want to go outside?" she nods her head like crazy and wants desperately for us to put on her shoes. She LOVES being outside with her little push toys.

New way to soothe sunburn

Dan found a really good way to soothe a sunburn. He applied Abrie's butt rash cream all over my horribly burnt shoulders, and it works wonders. I don't think I have ever had a burn this severe.

But, it was well worth the fun we had this morning at the lake!

1st PYO of the season

Took the little ladies to Weaver's this afternoon for the first fruit picking this summer season.

They had been wanting to go pick strawberries, and it was a lot of fun despite the heat. Abrielle absolutely loved it. The girl sat there squishing every strawberry she could find. And, as hard as I tried to get her to pick the green, unripe ones (so as to prevent the squishing of the juiciest ones all over her outfit and then the attraction of bees to my baby girl) it was to no avail; the girl wanted the big, red ones. She had such a blast. Maddie and Faith picked about 1 1/2 pounds worth, and they are delicious.

Bringing back 'Red Rover'

Oh how my girls love the game 'Red Rover.' I showed them how to play this a few weeks ago, and they just love it. We walk over to the daycare a lot in the evenings after I get home from work and after having eaten our dinner, and we played it last night in the field beside the little daycare. They just love it. The kids next door were out tonight, and there were 2 boys that wanted to play. Faith was part of the chain calling for the one last boy to come over, and don't you know the boy plowed Faith over onto her head. He got her right in the throat when he tried to break through the chain, and she was hurting quite bad. Poor Faith-y! He didn't do it purposefully, so I explained to her that we'll just have to make sure she is not part of the chain when we play with a lot of kids. Other than that though, the game has been a hit.

I also introduced my big girls to the joys of 'Pictionary.' They love to do that with the chalkboard part of their easel. The other night Dan and Faith were a team, and Maddie and I were a team. They had a 'movie night' since it was the night Dan got back from Virginia, and they had been waiting so anxiously for Daddy.

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Forgot to mention that Faith has been hilarious in saying that she is now in love with a coupon. It originally started when she saw a coupon for Carter's that had a monkey on it, and she started saying that she thought it was so cute. Well, now she says that she is going to "marry a coupon and not John Smith." Hahaha. She'll even open her Disney Fairies chapter books and tell us, "Ok, I have to read you a love story... 'Once upon a time, there was a coupon'..." It's quite funny.

And, on the subject of John Smith... One of the nights that Dan was gone, my big girls got married. They requested to wear 'wedding dresses' instead of their typical nightgowns for the night. Maddie wore a cream colored dress she has, and Faith had to settle for a pink and white polka dot dress (haha!). They had me walk them down the aisle (the living room) and I had to sing the wedding march song. Maddie married John Smith (the Disney version, they refer to the historical version as 'dead John Smith!') and Faith married Edward from 'Enchanted.' It was quite hilarious. A few minutes after they had gotten married, I saw Maddie sitting on the staircase and she looked like she was crying. I asked her if she was OK, and she told me (in a dramatic, but quiet voice) "I'm just so happy!" Oh my!

A nice day, plain and simple

Enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing day off today with my girlies.

Walked over to the duck pond this morning. Dan has been hitting the yard sales every Saturday morning with his little ladies (they call it their 'yard sale day!' and look forward to me working on Saturdays so they can go together), and found Faith a cute little princess scooter the other day for $8. She has been wanting a scooter (or, as she calls it her 'ooooter') for the longest time because she wants to be like Donovan! Now, we just have to find Maddie a bike, and we'll be set. Anyway, they took turns on the scooter the whole way down to the duck pond. They love that thing.

We saw a turtle, tons of fish, and a bunch of water snakes today down at the pond. It was quite interesting! I had never seen water snakes skimming the surface of the water the way that they were today. Considering I am not a fan of snakes, it was a little freaky, but still really neat.

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Totally unrelated, but 'new' things for my Show-y:

At her 1-year check-up, she weighed 18 lbs, 4 oz and was 29 inches tall.

She loves whole milk, and it has to be warm. I put it in the microwave for her, and she just loves it. Now that she has weaned herself completely from nursing (bittersweet for me), she sits on my lap in the mornings and drinks her cup of milk. It's really cute.

She absolutely LOVES one of Maddie's favorite board books from when Maddie was a baby. It has the lyrics to the Sesame Street song "Imagination" and that song soothes her whenever she is being fussy.

Speaking of books, she LOVES books as she always has. But, now she's funny because she hates it when a book is about to end. She knows if it's about to end, and will start fidgeting and when you ask her "do you want to read it again?" she'll nod her head up and down. She'll also bring a book to you and get into your lap.

Joint birthday party

Had a fun evening today.

Abrielle shares a birthday season with two other little babies that live in our immediate vicinity. A little girl named Sara turned 1 on April 4th, Abrie on April 24th, and a little boy named Cyrus turned one today. In fact, it turns out that Cyrus and Abrie shared a due date of May 14th! It's neat to have two other little buddies to grow up with in the neighborhood. Not to mention, they each have big sisters who Maddie and Faith get along with well, and there is another little girl that lives close-by as well.

Anyway, we had a joint birthday celebration for the three little one-year-old's today. Girlies helped make spinach dip, and we also took some fruit salad. The guys grilled hot dogs and burgers, and there was a lot more food also. There was even a cake shaped like a ONE, and each individual piece had their name on it. It was an awesome time! Maddie and Faith had a blast. They all play so well together, and despite Abrie not napping today (Lord help me! haha), she also had a great time. She was a bit of a fuss bucket at times, but that's what a no-nap day will do to you. She loved the cake though and the swingset.

Dan and I were talking about how lucky we feel to have met such great friends that are so close. We are just loving our neighborhood, and we feel incredibly hopeful that our girlies are already- and will continue to be- forging lifelong memories of living here.

Simple always seems to be the most amusing

A straw was a hit the other day at Red Robin. Abrie was quite entertained!

Gift of the ordinary

I've had a blog post in 'draft' status for over a week now.

I feel busier than ever, and on my down time I am appreciating my girls and my Dan. I am constantly making mental notes about what I want to make sure I jot down that the girlies did so that I don't forget, it's just not made it to the 'publish post' status yet.

I love this blog for the very fact that I am able to jot down all the fleeting moments that I don't want to forget. I will forever be grateful to this little online journal of mine; Lord knows I type much faster than I write. And, I have realized very quickly in having this little family of mine that these moments don't last forever. They come and they go as quickly as they started, and I savor them all and try to use this as my outlet of preserving these precious memories so that one day I can reflect on them all, and remember them again and smile.

The two perks that I have enjoyed lately of working at the library are 1) I get to visit the children's section upstairs every day during my lunch break and 2) I get to read when I am not visiting the children's section upstairs during my lunch break. I have been reading a book called 'The Gift of an Ordinary Day.' I can't put it down, and there is so much in this book that I feel has been my mantra ever since these ladies of mine have come into our lives: it's the ordinary that counts, and not the extraordinary. It is never a bad thing though to be reminded of this every chance possible.

I will forever remember the way Abrie looks at me when I go in in the mornings to get her-- standing there in her crib with her little arms outstretched to mine, waving in her backwards motion to me, and taking her pacifier out of her mouth so that she can smile and say 'Momma' to me. I won't ever forget Faith's quirky way of "soothing" Abrie when she cries by singing "There were 10 in the bed, and the little one said.. roll over, ROLL OVER..." at the top of her lungs. And, the way she tells me in her little voice, "You the best Momma EVAH." I will always look back on Maddie's anxiety about kindergarten next fall and the way she tells me "I don't want to be without you" and take it as the best compliment in the world: she wants to be with me, and not without me. I know one day that will all change, and she'll want that time away from me. I will look back on these days and smile.

I love the ordinary moments that make my life extraordinary. My girls are my extraordinary.