Little Valentines

Valentine's Day came and went in this house with many the art project, lots of paper decorating our house, pink sprinkles on various surfaces, and homemade Valentines, of course.

I had to take a picture of each girl proudly showing off her collection of valentines before school. Individually, they probably weren't much to behold by the time they were inspected by their recipient, but as a whole, they were just too cute and festive. I'm glad we didn't have to go the store-bought route this year, and I'm especially grateful for the quiet time the making of these little valentines allowed for.  Bridget was intent on making each of her cards unique, and it kept her busy and happy for hours!

Later, I made the girls a special Valentine's Day dinner before Matt arrived home from work. The girls each got little surprises, a special stop-off from Grandma with goodies, candlelight, chicken nuggets and pizza!  I know the way to my little girls' hearts :)

Daddy got home just in time to help supervise this little dinner party.

But, just to prove that every moment is not perfect around here:

The special dinner continued with red Jell-o and a decorate-your-own-cupcake session.  

The next moring, full Valentine boxes and leftover cupcakes greeted us...

at the perfect Mary-height. Much to her delight, these all stayed on this table for a few days!

Here's hoping these girls are always so spoiled on Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday to Matt!

It's rare that Matt gets any face time on here, but what better time to have a post be all about him than on his birthday?!  (Okay, it was a more than a week ago.  But, I do have a few other things to do besides blog!)  His birthday was mid-week, but I wanted him to have one of his favorite meals:  lamb chops with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.  Most weekday dinners are a bit of a hurried circus act here, and this was no exception.  The girls were about 50/50 on trying and liking the lamb, but Matt gladly ate anything the girls turned up their noses at. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for this tiny party, and it was just perfect!

Happy Birthday (38!) to the guy that does stuff like this all of the time, and even better, acts like it's no sweat!

He also packs lunches nearly every morning, fetches Mary when she wakes up, folds laundry, makes dinner half of the time, does baths and bedtime with me, never shirks diaper duty, picks up and drops off girls when his schedule allows, and tries to make every single game and practice for his adoring girls.  And, that's all in addition to everything he does outside of the house at his actual job!  I'm feeling like a slacker right now, so I should probably go be as productive as he is!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

The Babies

Obviously, the title of this post is just plain ridiculous.  I fully admit that.  These "babies" are nearing four years old, and we actually have a more babyish person in the house, yet I have to consciously stop myself from referring to Tessa and Annie as "the babies."  I do tell them, pretty much every day, that they will always be my babies, whether they like it or not.  But, it's high time I come up with another way to address them!  Sometimes they are the "babes" or just "the twins," and even sometimes Tessa and Annie :) For this post, they are the babies!

These babies have used and abused their "3" shirts this year, and I'm not sure they realize that turning 4 comes part and parcel with giving up the "3" shirt.  It goes with everything, in case you were wondering.  Similarly, shorts are totally fine on top of leggings :)

As much as I don't want to move on to year number 4 with these two, I am looking forward to shedding some less desirable behaviors this coming year.  I can honestly say we have never had writing on the wall in this house, until someone decided 3.75 years old was a good time to start.  That someone is Tessa, and it was ill-guided move on her part to write a "T."  Things could have gone much differently for her if she had done an "A."  Ah, soon she'll learn ;)

These two lead quite the charmed life.  Without that pesky thing called preschool, they get to go an adventures every day with Mommy and Mary, and also just stay home and play quite a bit.  I am so so spoiled by how much they entertain themselves.  They still disappear for hours at a time without a peep.  By this time next year with Mary at home while everyone else is at school, I'll be wishing Mary was a twin.  It'll be a shock to the system to have to (shudder!) entertain my own child!

When we're not lounging at home, Tessa and Annie know just how to sweet talk me into buying them coffee cake from Starbucks (two bags, one slice please!), and they love to decide the itinerary for the day.  Often, the plan is as simple as making their own peanut butter bagels and playing with the "big house."  They need my help getting the big Playmobil house down, but after that, I'm not needed!

Painting is always offered as an idea, but seldom welcomed by Mommy.  This was a lucky moment!

Park days and library days are more common...

Any plans of this kind take place after they have played for a sufficient amount of time after dropping the girls off at school.  The schoolyard will be empty and quiet save for the echoes and commotion these two create while they have the hopscotch squares and basketball poles all to them myself.  They perfect their number jumping, have at least 10 races between the basketball poles, and hold a wedding on a set of nearby steps before they're ready to pile back in to the van.  It's an early morning exercise session for all of us!

Recently, they were invited to their first birthday party for a cute little friend they met while touring preschools.  This was a big treat!  No other sisters came, so it was a treat for me too :)  We had many conversations leading up to this event, eagerly anticipating "ours friend."  ("Wait. What's ours friend's name, Mommy?"  Details.)  As soon as we arrived at the party, Tessa and Annie surrounded the birthday girl, each pulled one of her hands,  and asked in unison,  "Can you show us yours room?  Show us where yours room is."  I love that they both still mix up their pronouns, and I can't correct them...yet.  Maybe when they're 4.

These little sweeties of mine also helped me make a wreath for Valentine's Day.  It was slow-going since they insisted on handing me each color.  Annie would ask, "What color do you need now, Mommy?"  "Oh, pink?  Okay!  Comin' right up!"  They were pretty adorable crafting buddies.

This month, we need to put down a deposit for these girls' preschool tuition for the fall, and I'm already getting sappy about them being in school five days a week at that point.  I'll miss our easy days that they fill so effortlessly by playing with each other.   I know they'll flourish at school, but I'm already mourning the end of this era.  I just need to appreciate the next several months with these babies :)

Growing Girl

Why oh why do they have to keep growing?

This was the second tooth lost for Megan, and we had more drama this go-round, too.  She swallowed it in the middle of the night while she was sleeping.  We think this is what happened, but did not fully investigate this theory!

The loss of this big tooth has catapulted Megan into big kid territory.  I'm ill-equipped and unprepared for this stage of parenthood. Is it so wrong to expect them to stay little forever, baby teeth and all?

I'm happy to say there are some wonderful perks to this big kid gig, though.  At nearly 7, Megan has outgrown much of the tantrums, drama and unpredictable emotional messes that marked the 5-6 age span for her.  She's truly come into her own this year, and is so cool in her own skin.  She loves school, is a friend to everyone, never has a bad word to say about anyone (unless you count Bridget, but I can't blame her most of the time, with the button-pushing that goes on there), and is growing more and more confident every day.  And she reads!!  I'm not exaggerating when I say that she plows though a chapter book a day.  In fact, most days she completes more than one book.  Her current favorites are the Magic Treehouse series, Nancy Drew Clue Crew books and the Rainbow Fairy series.  This transition to being an independent reader seemed to happen overnight right before her Christmas break.  Suddenly, she was walking around the house reading aloud with a book in front of her nose, a la Belle.  So cute!  At that point, she would ask for help with words at least once per page.  Now, she can read for up to 15 minutes before she needs help with a word like "cautiously."  She even told me, "Mommy, I don't even want to play with the iPad anymore.  All I want to do is read."



Of course, she has played with the iPad plenty since making that statement, but she truly does enjoy reading so much.  She begs to go to the bookstore, and pleads to stay up later so she can finish "one more chapter, please!!"  I can't resist either one of those requests, so we've been making our way to Barnes and Noble quite a bit, and burning through some flashlight batteries at night here.  And, now that she reads so well, you can bet she wants to show it off to anyone who will listen...

She's even started writing her own Magic Treehouse book.  Here she is deep in thought before settling on a time and place for her beloved Jack and Annie to travel.

When she's not begging to read, she's begging to do the dishes!  I could get used to this big kid thing.

She's an awesome big sister.  I mean, just look at this:

Tessa had just stubbed her toe, and Megan immediately put her arms around her.  They walked like this for two blocks on the way to Bridget's basketball practice.  She's so sensitive to the younger girls' needs, especially when I'm busy.  In this case, I was carrying Mary and schlepping our bag full of snacks and entertainment for the sidelines of the basketball court.  My arms were full of baby and apples and juice boxes, so she filled in for me with a sympathetic hug.  She does this a lot, and I know she's wise beyond her years as a little mommy in the making.

I can't end this post without some more toothless shots.  As much as I didn't want her to lose her baby teeth, I'm loving this look right now.  It's adorable!