November 14, 2014 ~ Teagan Draws

Castle

Yes. We are still here. I’m still here. Same old, same old: super busy, not enough time, sick, can’t keep my eyes open, oh so tired.

Anyway.

I figured I’d share an amazing picture that Teagan drew along with a memory I wish I had been there first hand. I’m going to set it up and let Stu’s words finish.

We were on the way back from the doctor and I went to get Ashlin, Stu took her to CVS to get the antibiotics for her ear. They wandered through, waited in line for the medication and were at the register, ready to pay.

There’s a woman behind the checkout and a guy stacking candy in front.
Teagan starts playing with the electronic card swiping thingy.
“Dada… can I pay the tickets?”
“I don’t know, can you pay the tickets?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you bring any money?”
“No.”
“Then how are you going to pay?”
Teagan picks up the signing pen..
“I can draw a picture of a cat!”
Both CVS staff start laughing…
“I don’t think pictures of cats are legal tender.”
“What?”
“I don’t think you can pay with a picture of a cat.”
Candy stacking man is laughing pretty hard now
“To draw it I have to put a U and then an M on top. Then I draw the eyes and nose. Those are circles. Then I give it a hairy face. It’s difficult.”
“I know it’s difficult to draw, but I still don’t think they’re going to let you pay with cats.”
“Ok dada. Can I have my candy now?”

I love how this girl thinks, when she slows down enough to share with us.

June 7, 2014 ~ Watch Out For the Polliwog!

Tadpoles!

We found tadpoles!

Lots and lots of tadpoles!

The girls were excited as we ate a quick lunch, gathered some snacks, put on old and tatty sneakers, and packed them in the car.  Though Ashlin did succumb to her no-nap protest and studied the inside of her eyelids on the drive out.  She ended up with a decent 25 minute or so nap.  Teagan, Stu and I played punch-buggy.  She is getting better at it.

We took the swamp walk, a meandering wood pathway through some wetlands with stinky water.  There were some pretty purple flowers, red and yellow birds and lots of green stuff.  No polliwogs.  Also, no water access.

After a little bit we arrived at the south shore of the lake.  As we crossed the dam we could see shallows and reeds.  Muddy shore, but tadpoles!  Teagan came right up with me to look at them.  Ashlin hung back a bit.

Lesson on catching tadpoles

Teagan always jumps in with both feet – literally today – when learning something new.  She doesn’t always slow down enough to take in instructions.  It took her a few attempts, and shoes full of mud, before she caught any with the net.  A few more to catch them with her hands.  But she did it!  And had so much fun.

Ashlin went up with Stu, but she’s always a bit more hesitant with new things.  She preferred using the net, but did get ankle deep in mud and caught a good bunch of polliwogs.

Teamwork

Stu caught some too – with the canister lids! – but didn’t get his feet wet.  I had squishy shoes.

We took a few of them home, we do need some frogs in our fish pond.  They didn’t survive that super cold winder two years ago.  It was a quiet summer last year without any.

It was a very good day.

http://instagram.com/p/o9BaJvHWto/

Ashlin was giggling so much she got hiccups.

 

PS.  Album is here for more pictures.

May 12, 2014 ~ Mother’s Day Recap

Mother’s day was pretty laid back…  I had gotten Teagan’s present on Thursday, Ashlin’s on friday.  They were both handprint related.  And lovely.  Ashlin’s has a seed of some sort.  I watered it.

Teagan’s Hand

Ashlin’s Hand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After an initial 4:30am wake up for a lost bunny, Stu was sent in in at 6:30am for the second round.  I do think they both went back down for a little bit, but as seems the norm, not too long.  The little one came back in before 7am.  Stu jumped up quickly, trying to keep her, and the other one quiet, ordering me to stay there while hustling them quickly downstairs.

I tried, oh how I tried to go back to sleep.  But no luck.  I did enjoy the relative quiet and demand-free 20 minutes.  A lot.  I got to brush my teeth before my first cup of coffee.  And there was coffee.  Not a mother’s day treat, but an everyday treat.  Stu always makes me coffee.  I love that.

As Stu had work to do – he always works on Sundays, and we were out of fruit snacks – heaven forbid! – I took the girls to the store.  They were pretty good at the store, and we won a $25 gift card for a restaurant, just for listening to someone talk about a house cleaner.  They girls wanted to hear his spiel, I really wasn’t interested.  But hey, gift card!

After the store, was naps.  Well, quiet time.  No one napped.  Though they should have, being up before 7am.  I wanted a nap!

Waiting for an elephant

Then!  We took them out for a surprise trip.  Teagan kept asking where we were going but we wouldn’t say.  By the time we turned into the entrance road she had figured it out – Lake Pompom! She remembered!  Roller Coasters! Pirate Ship! Pirates!  Ashlin was excited.  She wanted to go on the roller coaster.

Teagan is old enough now to need her own pass.  She was excited about getting her picture taken and more excited to see her card.  Crazy the things you take for granted.  Season pass cards are fun things. (Thank you LaLa!)

It wasn’t too crowded, though the weather was lovely.  Lines were pretty short.  We worked our way through the kid section, heading towards the roller coaster.  Elephant, caterpillar, balloon, drums.  Ashlin took them all in stride.  As she had last year, with a stoic face that you weren’t sure about.  But she would jump up and down, asking to go back on after her turn.

This is her happy face

After a few rides, we got to the roller coaster.  All four of us got in line.  Ashlin asked to sit with me, Teagan was more than happy to go with Stu.  She was practically vibrating with excitement.  Ash was a bit more subdued.

But she rocked it.

We got on, the operator told us to put our hands up.  Ash did.  And then continued to hold them them up the entire ride.  She didn’t put them down when the operator checked between circuits that everyone was ok.  Hands up the second time around the track.

She loved it.

Total rock star.

Walking the exit path, she was jumping up and down, asking to go on again.  And again.  Then she saw the swings, and we had to go there.  And then the carousel.

Teagan wanted to do the Drop Zone ride.  Last year she wouldn’t walk near it, always watching with a wary eye.  This year she was ready.  I ended up riding with her, she’s still too short to not have a big person go with her.  Stu did not want to go.  No worries.  He took Ash back to the elephants, her ride of choice.

It was kinda fun, though no pause once you get to the top before the ride drops you.  Teagan did not want to hold my hand, but liked that there was a mom on her other side.  She was so proud of herself when the ride was over.  She couldn’t not run over to Stu to tell him about it – the Butterfly Tummy Drop ride.

Stuck

After that I suggested that we try the Ferris Wheel, and after that maybe the big carousel – the girls both love the carousel – so off we went.

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good suggestion.  Although Ashlin, our dare-devil, was fine with the idea, Teagan was not excited at all.  I think she was worried it would it would turn us upside down or spin too much or something.  I told her that it was just a big circle, and a calmer ride than the balloon one.  After a short wait, we all got on.

And then we got stuck.  We were stuck on the Ferris Wheel for around 20 minutes while they tried to get the cars to line up to the exit places, it was off balance.

Fun.

Not.

I guess we were lucky in that it was a gondola style and not a bench.  The two operators ended up calling over some engineers, who called over more engineers.  It was quite the ordeal getting the wheel to go around and stop at just the right place for everyone to get off.

Teagan asked to go on the Butterfly Tummy Drop again, Ashlin, the elephants.  The drop ride had no line, so we were done before Ashlin got through hers.  So, I let Teagan get in line for one more ride.

What’s funny, the two operators from the Ferris Wheel ended up rotating onto the elephant ride.  They remembered the girls.

The girls rode together.

Last Ride

 

 

 

 

April 27, 2014 ~ From the Mind of a Child

Sometimes this little – big – girl has the most incredible thoughts.  Yesterday, while driving back home from dance class Teagan asked Stu a simple question.  She asked, “when Elsa farts, does it make snow?”

Stu almost drove off the road.

 

January 18, 2014 ~ Frozen Tears

So, Frozen brings me to tears.  Well, not the entire movie, but two songs.  And hearing my daughter sing those songs.

I knew that the one made me teary, it did in the theater, with Ashlin on my lap.  But today, the other one did, and it was a surprise.  It’s not meant to make one cry, it’s meant to empower, to tell you it’s ok to leave everything and everyone behind and be yourself.  Maybe it was that Teagan was singing along, most of the words (she has the Frozen story cd), and was singing in a voice that was no longer a baby voice.  It was a little off-key, unpracticed, but a very sweet little voice.  A young girl voice.

She’s growing up.  Sniff.

*~*

Stu was half laughing at me today about it too.  He joked about reading the “I will always love you” or whatever book, the one that I can’t read aloud without something getting in my eye…  and then this.  Of course, both girls asked to hear the two songs over and over and over again. Laughing when Olaf is on the beach, when Ana does the tick-tock sound and follows the grandfather clock with her eyes. Again, Dada!  Again!

Then again.  I’m not the one humming them even though the girls are both in bed.

Ha!

Sniff.

November 12, 2103 ~ Snow!

Snow!!

This morning Teagan came into our room very excited. “Snow! Mama, it’s snowing outside!”  Eventually she calmed down, but only until her sister woke up.  Then, it started again.  She had to tell Ashlin that it was snowing, and pull aside the blind for her to see.  Ashlin’s turn to be excited. We get downstairs to get dressed (all the clean clothes are in baskets in the living room) and look out the back door at the snow.  By then, it was starting to slow down, though the girls excitement wasn’t.  Breakfast was eaten quickly, hardly a complaint or ow for hair combing, socks and shoes put on by the parent of choice of the morning. I had to find heavier coats and hats, mittens.  There were some from last year in the girls basket, so these were dolled out.  I found one mitten that fit Ashlin, and put it on her.  Zipped her up and told her that Stu would get the match from the trunk when they got to the car. Stu couldn’t find the match.  When they got to day care, he didn’t want her going in with just one mitten.  So, he tried to have her give it to him.  She was having none of that.  So, Stu tried logic.

“Ashlin, you can’t go in with one glove.  Your hand will get cold.”

Ashlin shakes her head.  She’s not about to give up the glove.

“How many hands do you have?”

“Two.”

“How many gloves do you need?”

“Two.”

“How many hands does Captain Hook have?”

“One.”

“So, how many gloves does he need?”

“One.” [“Are you Captain Hook?” “No.” “Then you can’t wear only one glove.” At which point she was felled by my logic and handed the glove over. I outsmarted a two year old. Go me.]

*~* As updated from Stu! *~*

She’s a smart girl :) The snow didn’t stick, sadly.  But the flakes did look nice floating down.

August 27, 2013 ~ Eating Buterflies

Unsure Kitty

It turns out that Teagan, (and Ashlin), like to eat butterflies.  Really!

Not real butterflies, but tri-color bow tie pasta.  Looks like butterflies.  Enough that they ended up giggling about it as they wolfed down dinner.

I was late to get home, so Stu picked up the girls.  Teagan, who is going to have a nice black eye to match her sister, asked what was for dinner.  Stu replied “butterflies!”  Teagan did not believe him – she’s too smart for that!  She said that she’s had them, and didn’t like them.

“Where did you eat butterflies, sweetie?”

“Day care.  I eated them at day care.”

“Ok, that’s good, we’re going to have moths!  You haven’t had moths before, have you?”

“Nnnnnnnoooooo.”

Supposedly, during this interchange, Ashlin was chattering about something she saw out the window.  Stu didn’t think she caught on until they got inside.

Teagan was very unhappy, not wanting to eat butterflies.  As they head into the kitchen, she starts crying.  With tears.  “Dada, I don’t want to eat BUGS!” she says when asked.  Oh.  Poor baby!  Daddy is totally joking with you.  He has a strange sense of humor sometimes.  You’ll eventually like it.

So, Stu shows them the cooked pasta, and Teagan tries one.  Ashlin goes “red one!” and tries that one. “Yum!”  Teagan said “Yum!” too.

The girls had butterflies with cheese for dinner.  As I walked in to the kitchen, they both are laughing and yell to me about how they’re eating butterflies!  “Buhflies, mommy! Yum yum!”

So fun.

August 15, 2013 ~ Princesses Are Everywhere

Is there a princess over there?

Teagan won’t let you pull anything over on her.  She knows it all!

Tonight on the drive home, Teagan pointed out a SUV that had a lot of antennas coming out of it. saying “look at that car with all the horns!”  When Stu told her that they weren’t called horns, but aerials, Teagan refused to believe him.  “Nooooo.  Those aren’t aerials. I know what Ariel is, she’s a princess.  That is not Ariel”

I wish I had been there.

She’s one smart cookie.

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July 24, 2013

Yesterday, we followed a rainbow home from the store. It started as a double rainbow, but as the rain evaporated, it became one arc.

Teagan said that there was treasure at the end of the rainbow. As the girls pointed at the rainbow we were following, I said that it looked as if the end was over our house.this made the girls very excited. “Drive faster!” Teagan said. “Faster!” Ashlin echoed. “We’re getting closer!” Stu encouraged. “Treasure! I want to find treasure!” Teagan said. Up, up, up the hill we went.

As we turned the final corner to our house, the rainbow moved, and settled to a house or two away from ours. As we get the girls out of their car seats, Teagan asks if we can follow the rainbow so we could get the treasure? No, sweetie, we can’t follow it into someone else’s yard. Maybe next time.

Dejected, the girls allow us to corrale them towards the front door. Stu looks down and asks Teagan if she saw something in the grass. When she looked where he was pointing, she saw a silver coin, a lollipop and a glass gem. Her head nearly exploded. She screamed that the treasure fell as the rainbow moved, the leprechauns dropped it. They both did a happy dance. She claimed the lollipop and the gem, Ashlin got the coin.

Watching them, their joy, I am so glad Stu was such a quick thinker, and had a Big Y coin, the dumdum Teagan earned for being good at naptime, and a bit of glass that Teagan probably swiped from daycare the day before in his pocket to quickly drop in the grass when the girls weren’t paying attention.

They are going to want to chase rainbows for years. So awesome!

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July 17, 2013

Missing these smiles

This week, I’ve been missing my girls.  A lot.  Work has required that I leave the house either before or as they wake up in the the morning, and then not be back until after bed time.  I miss Stu too, but at least he’s awake when I get home.  Twelve hour work days are not fun.

Monday, I got quick, snotty kisses from them before dashing out.  I was 20 minutes late to the command center.  I ended up getting home after then were both tucked in, so no snuggling at all while watching Peppa Pig.

Tuesday, I took the time to brush Ashlin’s hair and chatted to Teagan for a minute before leaving.  Again, 20 minutes late. I tried to get home early enough to make the end of bed time, Stu kept them up late, so got to see them for a little bit.  Long enough to get a big hug or two from Ashlin and to brush Tegagan’s teeth – she gave up her bedtime books to watch a bit of Dora.  I missed out on Ashlin reading books.  On the way into day care, Ashlin read to Teagan and Stu:  “Ahum um hum hum.  Piggy pancackssssssssssssssshhhh.” Lots of words have a “sh” sound at the end, a la Sean Connery.  She would hold up the page to show the picture.  Next page:  “Ahum um hum hum hum.  Piggy.  Pancakessssssssssshhhh.”  I love when she reads books out loud.  I’m sorry I missed this.

This morning Teagan was up early.  When she heard the alarm, she came and snuggled with me for a little bit.  Ashlin didn’t wake until after I left.  Today, I was only 15 minutes late.

I’m hoping to get home in time for books, pre-bed snuggles would be even better!  Stu told me that Ashlin was having a hard time.  She was pretty down on Monday when she didn’t see me.  Everytime the iPad sounded out the Pot Noodle horn as I got a text, she shouted “Mama’s heeeeeeerrrrrrrr!”  Stu told her no, but she insisted “Yesss!  Is.”  Last night, she barely touched her dinner.  When asked, she looked up sadly at Stu and said “Mama no home.”  Bottom lip quivering.  Gah.  Stu gave her extra snuggles and an extra book.

I really miss those little moments.  The quick snuggle in bed before the day begins, the winding down snuggle on the sofa watching something on Nick Jr.  Reading books.  Tickles.  Listening to Teagan tell about her day, or tell one of her stories.  Her bizarre pre-school illogical stories.  Her laughing so hard she hiccups for “Knock, knock… Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?”  Watching her make Ashlin laugh, and then laugh so hard she sounds like a chicken and begs for relief.  Then as soon as she catches her breath, asks for more.

This weekend is Girls’ Weekend, and I’ll be away.  Again.  Fingers crossed the girls do well…  That Ashlin does better.

I am going to miss their giggles:

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