Rockin' Egg

Remember as a kid when someone would shout, "Last one there is a ROTTEN EGG!" and everyone under 4 ft tall would take off running as fast as they could? Well, I tried to introduce this to the girls, making things like getting upstairs for a bath and getting ready for the day go a little faster. They scream it every night on the way to bath and bed. Only they both just sit on the steps waiting for the other to go. Seems they both want to be the "rotten egg???". Ewww! Who wants to be a rotten egg?

Well, apparently nobody, because I figured out that's not what they're saying. For Grace and Maggie, it's "last one up is a ROCKIN' EGG!" And, for those who know their Daddy and his love of rock and roll and how he's passed that along to these girls, a "ROCKIN' EGG" sounds like the coolest thing ever to these 4 year olds! And they both want to be one. So, "last one up is a ROCKIN' EGG" gets me nowhere fast!

Rock on, little girls. Rock on.

Mommyish

I'd just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready to dry my hair when 1 of 2 four year olds comes barreling through the door. Maggie gets on the potty to do her business. She looks up at me and says, "Mommy, did you just take a shower?" I said, "yep, baby, I did." She says, "I thought so. It smells Mommyish in here!"

I didn't know Mommies had a specific scent! :)

In the past 4 years, I'll have to say one of the biggest changes in my life is that I've never been lonely in the bathroom! There are always one or two little girl guests. Sure, showers are more crowded. But, they're more fun, too!

Christmas at The Greenbrier

We took the girls on a little getaway to The Greenbrier. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas! They absolutely loved the experience, and I'm going to have to really start talking up the Hampton Inn to make that acceptable on our next little vacation! They were spoiled with chocolates on their beds, fancy stickers on the toilet paper and warm water to wash their fingertips at the table! It was fun to share this experience with them. One of my favorite comments ... "Wow Mom. This IS bigger than Bob!" (Bob, being what they named our actual house!)

Our resident Gremlin

Seriously. This dog. It's possessed. Every time you snap a picture, Izzy's eyes look this way! Still, the girls LOVE playing with her. Grace is especially a "little mama" with the dog.

Christmas at JoMamas

The girls were excited to get to see JoMama and Anna Banana this weekend. Christmas gifts, pizza, cookies -- of course they had a GREAT time!

Deck the Halls

The girls had a GREAT time decorating the house for Christmas. They lasted most all day and put many, many ornaments on the tree this year, instead of a handful. They even used a stool to reach up high!

New this year to our house is Buddy, the Magical Elf. He appeared a couple of days ago with a note telling us that he's our Magical Elf, he doesn't talk (but you can talk to him, he does watch over us and magically travels each night (after we go to sleep) back to the North Pole and reports to Santa! And, before we wake up the next morning, he's popped back in -- always at a different location! So, it's a fun game of hide and seek for Buddy each morning. And, Grace and Maggie are mindful that he's Santa's eyes and ears. So, there's a lot of politeness in our house! ;)

We had a great time decking our halls and are looking forward to a magical season with our little girls.

Imagination Movers!

Took the girls to see Disney's Imagination Movers in concert yesterday. They had a blast! And, what's more, Mover Rich managed to run up to where our seats were! Both girls got to touch Mover Rich -- and he called Maggie a "cutie pie" and Grace "sweetie". While both girls were hugely excited by that, Maggie has been dreamily thinking about writing Rich a letter, with help of course! She said that she didn't think Rich knew her name. And, she wants him to know that her name is Maggie Elizabeth! She also said she's sure he called her "cutie pie" because she's so tiny! LOL!

It was a fun day. I love to see them smile!

Cat Burglars!

I love Godiva chocolate. Chris knows this. So, he found me the cutest Halloween kitty made of pure Godiva milk chocolate. Heaven! Well, it probably was heaven. I wouldn't know. Check out the cat burglars!

Big Cupcake!

Aunt Judy sent the girls a big cupcake pan! And, if you know the girls, you know that they love cupcakes. And, BIG cupcakes? Well, they simply rock! They had a GREAT time making -- and eating -- the oversized cake!

French Man!

Grace is taken with the french manicure I often give myself. This evening, she asked me if I'd paint white tips on her nails. I said, "sure, Honey -- I'll give you a french manicure." She jumped up and down and raced into the living room shouting, "hey Maggie, wanna French man on your nails??!!"

Trick or Treat!!

The girls had a great time Trick or Treating! Grandpa and Pat came up again this year for a Halloween/Birthday celebration. The girls walked around the neighborhood collecting candy -- while Grandpa walked Izzy, dressed up like Scooby Doo, through the neighborhood with them. Well, I should say Izzy walked Grandpa ...

Notice the pumpkins! The small, tall one is Maggie's. She drew the face on and I cut it out. The smallest pumpkin is Grace's. That's the face she drew as well. The largest pumpkin was a team effort!

Little Costume Dancers

The girls had a Halloween party at dance last night. There was a lot of games, snacks and just a little bit of dance. They were to wear a costume. Rather than wear the costumes they plan to trick or treat in later this week, we opted for these cute ballerina costumes their Aunt and Uncle sent them a long time ago. They were the cutest dancers there!

Swine Mania!

It's been awhile since I've been able to post, but there's been good reason! Our household has experienced a double dose of the H1N1 virus -- and I'm going to the doc today. I SHOULDN'T have it, I've been on preventative Tamiflu. But, I'm illin'!

The girls did fine with it, albeit scary high temperatures. Grace topped out at 106.5and Maggie at 105. I've never seen a temperature as high as Grace's in a human! It was a stressful time at 5:30 in the morning! I stressed the doctor out as well by calling her at 5:30 a.m.!

Both had one bad day, and then the rest of the time they ran around like crazy during the day and got sick at night. So, I was chasing them constantly during daylight hours and up constantly all night checking fevers, giving meds. Is it any wonder that I'm snifflin' now?!

While we were quarantined, we did some fun stuff. We made several crafts, a favorite being stained glass jars made from tissue paper pieces. We played games, watched movies, practiced our letters and numbers, cooked, baked chocolate chip cookies. We even filmed our own 3 minute cooking show! I'm going to figure out how to put that up here for all to see! They made a pudding pie. It is very cute!

The girls returned to school today. I returned to work. Let's hope that's the only time our household experiences swine mania!!! At least I know the girls can't get it again ...

Smile

I tell the girls that I have dubbed Uncle Kracker's song, "Smile" our song -- because I think of them every time I hear it. So now we dance around and hug and kiss alot when it comes on (or when we go to You Tube and play it!). A couple days ago, before Maggie fell asleep for the night, she was lying in her bed and I was tucking her in. She put her hands on my cheeks and pulled me close to her face and simply said, "You make me Smile, mommy". I smiled for the rest of the night. :)

Here's our song ...

You're better then the best
I'm lucky just to linger in your light
Cooler then the flip side of my pillow, that's right
Completely unaware
Nothing can compare to where you send me, Lets me know that it's ok, yeah it's ok
And the moments where my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh, you make me smile

Even when you're gone
Somehow you come along
Just like a flower poking the sidewalk crack and just like that
You steal away the rain and just like that

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh, you make me smile

Don't know how I lived without you
Cuz everytime that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes

You make me smile
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh, you make me smile

Pumpkins Everywhere!

We went to the pumpkin patch so early this year -- and there's been so much rain -- that our pumpkin patch pumpkins have rotted! So far only one remains. Knowing we're going to need something to carve and seeds to roast, we took the girls to the Halfway Market yesterday to get more pumpkins. They loved walking through them!

Silly Spooky Sleepover 2009

We had a great time at this year's Silly Spooky Sleepover! All the kids were excited and we had a couple of fun outings with them. The highlight, according to all 4 kids, was the Corn Maize. Though the tractor wasn't running that day due to mud, we still had a great time slipping and sliding on the path to get up to the maze. Isaac unintentionally went swimming in mud puddles twice!

The passport we chose to get through the Maze was TV, movies and music. Since the questions were hard for 4-6 year olds, Chris and I had fun changing the questions to something the kids would know. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? What blue fish helped Nemo's dad find Nemo? Who is Dora's best monkey friend? The kids had a BLAST answering the questions -- and people looked at us oddly as if to say -- where are they getting THOSE questions!

Here are some fun pics, including the kids' feet after!

BFFs Forever

Grace and Mommy are Best Friends Forever!

I was lying in bed with Grace the other morning (Chris and Maggie were up) when she opened her eyes, smiled and said, "Mommy, you and me are Best Friends Forever, right?" I said, "Absolutely!" She said, "Just you and me, right mommy?!"

Just when she said that, Chris walked in. He said, "Can I be your best friend, too?" Grace said, "Yes! Grace, Mommy and Daddy are best friends forever! Just Grace, Mommy and Daddy!" Then we all got up and walked into the living room holding hands.

Maggie was on the couch watching Disney. Grace says, "Hey Maggie -- mommy, daddy and me are best friends forever! Only mommy, daddy and me! Wanna be best friends too?" To which Maggie said, "Yes!" And Grace said, "Mommy, Daddy, Grace and Maggie are best friends forever! But only Mommy, Daddy, Grace and Maggie!"

I'm betting if you play your cards right, you could be in the circle of BFFs too. ;)

Grace and Maggie with Baby Kate

We went to our good friends' house (Adam and Jennifer Weiss) last week to hold and welcome their newest addition. This is Kate. She is adorable, following suit with their 10 year old daughter Allison. The girls really felt like big girls holding a 3 week old!

A Whole Lotta Bunches

Maggie is quite the lovey-dovey these days. She tells us many, many, many times a day how much she loves us. As Chris was dropping her off at school today, she turned to him and said, "Daddy, I love you a whole lot of bunches."

How cute is that?

Baby Brother

Last night while I was sitting in the girls dark bedroom waiting for them to fall asleep, they, of course, started the stalling. Last night's conversation went something like this ...

Grace: Mommy, I want a baby brother. No! I want TWO baby brothers.
Maggie: Me too! I want a baby brother.

Me: (feeling double-teamed) Well, girls, I don't think that's gonna happen. When I had you two in my belly, the baby doctor noticed some problems and said it probably wasn't a good idea to have any more babies in my belly (which is a stretch, by the way. He just said I'd need to start shots ASAP, not that I COULDN'T. Still ... I was double-teamed, I went to the extreme).

Grace and Maggie: (completely ignoring me) But we WANT a baby brother. Or two.

Me: (feeling the upper hand) Well, girls. We could do that. But, that means I won't be sitting here anymore waiting for you to fall asleep. There will be other babies to attend to. And, you won't be coming down to mommy's and daddy's bed in the middle of the night any more. The new baby will need to be with us at night.

Maggie: (on the verge of tears) I DON'T WANT A BABY BROTHER. I don't WANT ANY babies!
Grace: I do! I still want a baby brother! Or two!

Silence

Maggie: (struggling to keep her tears at bay) Mommy, I really don't want a baby brother. No babies. Grace doesn't either. No babies.
Grace: YES, I DO WANT A BABY!
Maggie: GRACE! Stop talking after me!

Me: Girls, girls ... It's time to go to bed. Let's not worry with any of this right now. Maggie calm down. Grace stop talking. Go to SLEEP!

Silence

Grace: Hey Mommy .... I have a great idea ...
Me: What's that Grace?
Grace: Me and Maggie can take care of the new babies -- and you can still take care of us.

Me: (thinking she's quite the negotiator) Go to sleep, Grace.

Daisy LOVES peas!

Random Conversations

Chris picked the girls up from school yesterday. As usual, they made a trek to the water fountain. Just before Maggie took her drink, she looked at her dad and said, "You don't stink, but the rest of the boys do!" Chris, not really knowing how to respond to this, looks at Grace -- who rolls her eyes, shakes her head and says, "I have no idea."

We had a similar bewildering moment at the dinnertable. It was Make Your Own Taco Night, which the girls LOVE. I should mention than Izzy loves it too, because it's messy on the floor! Anyway, the conversation went something like this:

Me: "How was your day Grace?"
Grace: "Lailani hit me in the arm really hard. Alyssa kicked me in the leg and Maddison screamed in my ear really loud.

Me: "Oh, that's not nice! Did you tell the teacher? Did they get in trouble?
Grace: Well, it was all an accident. Except for Alyssa kicking me. That was on purpose. And Lailani hit me. On the arm. On purpose. Maddison screaming in my ear was an accident. Well, no. Maybe that was on purpose too. I don't know, but I didn't like it much".

Me: "Well, Maggie, how was YOUR day?"
Maggie: "Good".
Me: "That's it. Good".
Maggie: "Yep".

They are so different!

"Daddy" by Grace and Maggie

This was a team effort, dry erase portrait of Daddy. We're still wondering why he's half black and half green.

Gremlin

Whatever you do ... don't get it wet and don't feed it after midnight!

Little (well-behaved) Dancers

Every time I dress the girls for dance class, I get a little sad. They look so grown up in those tights and skirts, hair pulled back. I can't believe they are only 4 years old when I see them like that. Still, I wish they could stay little for always. I know they won't. They even act like little grown ups a good bit of the time.

Just last night at dance class, I experienced one of those shoulders squared, chest puffed out incidents of complete parental proudness. It is the norm for Grace and Maggie to mind their manners, especially when we're out in public. And, I have noticed that they seem older, more mature than the other 4 and 5 year old girls in their class. They listen intently to their instructor. They do their best when it's their turn. The teacher has not had to stop class on their account. Other parents are noticing. And last night, two moms came over to me and said, "Your girls are always so good. They are such good listeners. And there are TWO of them. What's your secret?"

Chest puffy, shoulders squared moment! I'm ready to tell them that my girls are exceptional! Chris and I are good parents! Involved parents! They are loved! But instead what I say is truly what I believe. "They are good kids. But, ladies, they have their moments. I don't know why it is, but they tend to save those moments for home -- just for our eyes. They're not perfect. We're not perfect. FAR from it. But for whatever reason, they tend to give me a break when we're out. Just don't decide to come home with us. The meltdowns hit at about 7 every night." Both moms seemed relieved to hear that my kids were every bit as normal as theirs -- just on a different time schedule!

Still, I am very proud of the way they tend to carry themselves at special events, pre-K class, weddings, funerals, gymnastics, dance class, etc. We are very fortunate. And, they DO seem so much older because of their behavior. I left dance class feeling a little proud and a little sad. But mostly proud. I think Maggie must've sensed something a little off with me. Because as I started the car, she said to me, "Mommy, when we get home can I lay on the couch, watch TV and suck my thumb?" And just like that, I was grinning from ear to ear. They are truly 4 years old! Not 14. Four. And I can live with that ... for now.

Scooby Dooby What?!

I picked the girls up super early from pre K today so that we could spend the afternoon shopping for Halloween costumes. Grace was adament. She wanted to be Ariel. Though Maggie had said a month ago she wanted to be Cinderella, the past couple of weeks she's been firmly pressing the Cheerleader idea. Maggie followed through with getting a cheerleader costume. She, very specifically, wanted a "fire pink" one. I think most of us call that hot pink. :) We found it at the first store we visited. Easy.

We searched a few stores for the perfect Ariel costume. We found it. Right beside this Daphne costume. I guess the big orange wig was just too much of a temptation, because Grace left the store with that Daphne costume. Ask her what she's going to be for Halloween and she'll tell you Ariel. I gently remind her she chose something else and she responds, "Oh yeah, what's that girl's name again? The Scooby Doo girl with the orange hair?"

What Grace is more excited about is that after we left the store with the Daphne costume, I told her I'd make Izzy a big, chunky collar with the SD logo on it and she could go as Scooby Doo. Maggie, getting in on the plot, has decided she's playing a cheerleader character in a random Scooby Doo cartoon and she's going to say "Zoinks!" alot (in between cheers, of course).

Too late to bed, too early to rise ...

It's occurred to me that once "real school" starts -- and not just this Pre-K thing -- that I may have to reset the alarm to about 4:30 a.m. to get all the girls in the house ready and out the door.

Grace and Maggie suddenly have their own style, want their own flair. Well, maybe not their OWN style and flair. Madison's style and flair. Madison is a girl in their Pre-K class. If Madison wears a ponytail in her hair one day, I know I"ll have TWO ponytails to do the next morning. If Madison wears a dress with tights one day -- guess what my two girls are wearing the very next day? And just this morning I discovered that Madison both wore a necklace yesterday and had a ribbon in her hair. Guess who was running around the house franticly looking for "the right necklace" at ten minutes past the time she should have left for work?

Chris, growing more accustomed every day to what it means to a girl to feel all special and girl-like by having just the right accessories, found the necklace. The day was saved! The morning was brighter! And I was still late for work.