Friday, April 22, 2016

deep thoughts with claire



As I was leaving after tucking her in...

"Wait mommy! You have to listen to me! Otherwise you will fall in the water and get eaten by dangerous sharks. Daddy didn't listen to me..."

For those concerned, Justin is at work- I don't believe he will be encountering sharks anytime in the foreseeable future.

On drinking milk...

"Babies drink milk from bottles or from those (pointing to my chest). We do not drink milk from those because we are not babies, we are big girls."

Duly noted, Claire.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

safety patrol

I gave the girls grapes with their lunch. I cut the grapes in half for safety reasons. Audrey found one I missed and told me "mama, you need to cut this grape. If it is like that (whole) we choke".


Thursday, March 24, 2016

on good hair days

Before we went out, I asked Claire if she wanted a braid or a clip. Her response was, "no mom. My long curly hair is perfect. See? It's perfect!".


Who am I to argue with perfection?

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

macy's

After our outing at the playloft, the girls and I had to make a quick trip to Macy's. I was sure not to refer to it as the mall because we didn't have time to hit up all of their favorite spots.

As I was parking, Claire asked "is this heaven mommy?" Before I had a chance to respond Audrey piped up, "no Claire, this is Macy's".

However if this picture is any indication, Macy's could very well be a future sanctuary for Claire.


Wednesday, March 9, 2016

that time claire threw up in my bed

1. Bring Claire back to her bedroom 2 times. On the 3rd attempt decide to let her snuggle. 

2. Fall asleep before bringing her back to bed. Wake up at 1am to the sound of vomit.

3. Carry her to the kitchen (what was I thinking?!?) where she proceeds to vomit again.

4. Inform Justin that there is a little bit of puke on the bed.

5. Justin questions my math skills. I start to inform him that in 8th grade my class was the number one class in the state of Minnesota, but remember that was for reading, not math. Start to tell him how the grad standards projects weren't focused on volume, but I could make a scale model of our bedroom with nothing but cardstock and tape. Feel a tinge of annoyance that points were deducted because my nightstand wasn't next to the bed. Regret not calling calling it a credenza or accent table.

6. Set up shop on the couch with Claire.

7. Alarm goes off way too early. Consider skipping washing my hair for an extra 30 minutes of sleep, but remember that it is already 3rd day hair and may or may not have vomit in it. And I'm participating in an interview today.

8. Consider telling Justin we should by a gas water heater, but decide against it. Try not to grumble during my lukewarm shower.

9. Sneak Easter candy from the girls' stash into my lunch bag. Feel grateful that Grandma Helen told me many years ago that Lutherans don't give things up for lent (I briefly considered giving up Oreos, which at the time accounted for about 50% of my caloric intake. The rest was split between ham sandwiches and pizza).

10. If couches are in most offices at your workplace does that mean that napping during the workday is acceptable? Ponder this thought for a few moments but conclude that it is frowned upon. Count down the hours until it is socially acceptable to have my first Cadbury egg (which, for reference, is 10).

Sunday, February 7, 2016

pajama party

We celebrated the girls' birthday on Saturday and had a ton of fun! I did a pajama party this year and served breakfast (and cupcakes. After much deliberation I concluded that muffins don't count as cake).


I offered fewer sweets than I had in years past, which ended up being a good decision because they consumed more sugar in one day than they typically do all quarter.


Claire was a big fan of the "bacon and eggs"


Don't worry, I also served real eggs as well. The party wasn't just a carb fest.

Audrey was a huge fan of her birthday hat. She wore it before the party even started.


Claire attempted to do makeup for the party. Uncle washed it off when he arrived.


They loved all of their presents! They are very excited about their snowman kit. And Claire is looking forward to our next trip to target to use her "coupons" (gift cards).


Although one of the biggest highlights was Aunt Nancy's tiger pajamas. We are fortunate to have so many people to celebrate with us. The festivities continued today when Ryan and Allie came over with presents (Justin ended up enlisting Ryan with installing (well, and returning and purchasing, but that's a story for another day) our new tv so that was his favorite gift of the weekend).











Thursday, February 4, 2016

birthday fun

We had a low key celebration in the girls' birthday, with their party to come this weekend.

We started the day with pancakes. Candles and sprinkles were added for extra fun.


Next we facetimed with Amanda, Cameron, and Gabe. The kids weren't in a very chatty mood. Although Audrey kept on wanting to look at "baby Morgan" (she will probably be disappointed to learn that Morgan is more of a toddler these days).

Next we went to the play loft. I spent a lot of time talking to the girls about sharing and we discussed what to do if they didn't want to play with another kid.


The only issue we ran into was when other moms busted out snacks for their kids (ahem, even when the sign clearly said NO food or drinks). I encouraged the girls to keep playing an reassured them that we could have a snack at home, but after cookiegate there was no turning back so we left before playtime was over. We will have to try again.

Later we went on a "special birthday adventure" (the grocery store) and they got to pick out cupcakes and balloons.


Then they opened their present. We bought them magna-tiles and they were a huge hit.