Sink or Swim, Momma!!

I am reminded of that scene in "Finding Nemo" where Merlin says to his son, "You think you can do these things Nemo, but you just CAN'T!"

That was me today. Joe is out of town again so I thought we'd get all our playdatin' done. When he's home during the week it's difficult to have friends over because it's NOISY. And Daddy works from home...

So we invited Audrey and Natalie over. And then cousin James because his Mommy had errands to run and I thought, "what's one more?" I'm a crazy person.

The Princess Brigade and Prince Eric

The "Big Girls" working in the play kitchen and sharing their favorite recipes for chocolate cake and boiled eggs. (You didn't know there was a recipe for boiled eggs, did ya?)

Discussing princess matters...

The "Little Girls" being fairies. Natalie was "Pinkerbell" and Mia was "Monty" (? I don't know...)

Prince Eric's fancy shoes. Don't tell his Dad.

A Good Story

Just another morning... Ali is feeling a little under the weather so we are staying close to home today. She has spent the morning writing in a little journal and drawing pictures. She lined Mia and I up on the couch to read us her story which featured characters like "Sleeping Beauty Ali" and "Cinderella Mia". I was impressed until we got to the part where "Icky Witch Mommy" rode in on her magical broom and stole away the magic moraccas and nobody had fun ever again. I know every good story must have a villian, but.... Anyway, my favorite part by far was the ending, "And the kingdom, the power and the glory was theirs, forever and ever. Amen."

Ali is sharing her very long story...

Mia's preferred dress in the morning... is unique

Last night after bath they became a two-headed monster.

Indians

I love how my children think. For instance: We walk Cali the puppy and play with whoever is out almost every evening. Yesterday, we were at the park and Ali noticed some things that were different about a nice Indian mom and her kids. Ali asked the mom about the "red dot" on her forehead and why they talk funny. Her questions were innocent and valid and I suppressed the urge to shush her and instead told her we'd talk about it on the way home. So on the way home I tried to explain culture and different languages by drawing similarities between the people at the park and someone familiar - Dora the Explorer.

Mom: Does Dora talk funny sometimes?
Ali: Yes.
Mom: Why? What is different?
Ali: She speaks Spanish!
Mom: Right! And where is Dora from that they speak Spanish?
Ali: Cartoon Network?

So it all went downhill from there. After I explained that Dora is from Mexico (where they speak Spanish), Ali deduced that the Indian people were speaking Spanish. Then I confused her further by trying to explain that the people at the park were speaking Indian - which Ali associated with Pocahontas. Then I tried to explain the difference between Native Americans and Indians from a really cool country called "India". She wanted to know what was cool about India (of course, because I am soooo good at geography...) All I could think of were elephants and saris. And Mother Teresa. You can't predict the inner workings of that little brain. All I was trying to do was teach a little cultural sensitivity and I think I flopped all over the issue!

Here's an old picture of Mia's first trip down the slide with her sister. They grow so fast!!

Time For Us

Joe and I got away to San Antonio for the weekend to celebrate 5 whole years of marriage! We stashed the girls at Grandma and Pop-Pops and sped away in a minivan accompanied by some new good friends. We stayed at a wonderful hotel, ate outside on the Riverwalk, shopped and stayed up late! We tried really hard to sleep in late, but when your body is used to waking up at 6, sleeping past 8 is rather difficult!! The highlight of the trip was a 3 hour tube ride down the Guadalupe River. It was a fantastic time and it ended too soon! Not that we didn't miss our girls....

Here we're having a nice italian dinner and thinking, "nobody has called us Mom or Dad in 12 hours!!"

My friend, fellow nurse and travel buddy, Wendy.

Ali's Recital

Ali has been dancing now for a couple years. It's the cutest thing. She looks forward to it all week and so far I have managed to avoid those dance programs that require you to spend $300 on a 4 year olds recital costume that she'll wear once. So as long as she likes it, and it doesn't interfere with soccer (according to Dad) we'll keep it up. We just finished a session where she took a combo class of ballet/tap with beginning gymnastics. She loved it. And I loved that her ballet teacher kept telling me that Ali listens so well, has natural talent and just "gets it". (Okay, so at first I thought, "who's child is she talking about?") I don't think it will be long before Mia will want to join in, although right now she's still content to sit with me and watch Ali. And if I should happen to talk to another parent, Mia will remind me to "watch Ali". So here... watch Ali.

And I learned yet another lesson: videos are not like photos. They can not be rotated no matter what you do. So if you'll just lay your head on your left shoulder, I think you might find this little dance number worth the discomfort. Thanks for your understanding!!

So We Went to the Park

We had grand plans of going to the town carnival the other day. It was Sunday, I got home from work, slept a couple hours and spent the rest of the day talking to the girls about pony rides, carousels and cotton candy. We were excited!! Imagine our distress when we get there just as the weather begins to cool in the evening and see all the people packing up the rides, cotton candy and ponies.... Maybe Mommy should have checked the hours? So we missed the carnival and tried to cheer ourselves up by going to the park. It wasn't so bad. And we learned a good lesson - 1. When life hands you lemons, make lemonaide. 2. Always back your story up with facts before talking to preschoolers about cotton candy.