All dressed up for dance class and waiting for the rest of us...
I couldn't find K so I went searching and found this...notice the rain boots. When she saw me she said, "Look Mom! I'm helping Dad!"
He is building a retaining wall and foundation for our shed (so we can move it off our patio - yipee!!).
Now that summer is out, the older kids are around a lot more. I love it!!
This is how Em wears her stethoscope. She is starting to sort of play doctor. As long as it is all on her terms and you don't make her do anything, she will play.
The faces of K...
What? Yes, Em is a total goofball. She will do anything to get laughs out of you.
A meeting of the minds?
This time around we decided to make a "swing like Nana's". I learned my lesson from the failed dog house attempt, however, and used quality wood. K traced the circle, I cut it out and the girls painted it.
While we waited for it to dry, which doesn't take long in the desert, K wanted me to take a pic of her on her 'new swing'.
I don't even know what she is doing but this cracks me up every time I see it. Such a classic crazy Emmy shot!
She plays this piano all the time...maybe we should get it tuned?
Potty training has been a nightmare with this one. Yes, that's poop on her hands. Enough said.
When your kids are skinny, they fit in the toys designed for dolls.
Oh yeah, the plants the girls planted. We have peppers and tomatoes growing in the clay that is our backyard soil!
Success! We hung the swing and had a jolly time.
We have made the Home Depot kid's workshop one of the things we do now. This month it was trucks. These were brought home and unlike the other stuff, never have been played with again. Girls. :-)
Well, life has been good. M has been back on days for quite a while now so we are all getting a lot more sleep. This schedule is really hard on the girls since they don't see Dad for three or four days straight every week (he leaves the house by 6am and gets home around 8pm) so to them he may as well be a traveling salesman. But then when he is home for three or four days straight, he is all here (not in the semi-comatose fog night shift leaves you in). And as a result, life has been a lot more fun since we can get out and do more.
Another plus is that with more energy more stuff gets done around the house and our backyard is looking downright nice these days. For me personally, I love it. The days are really long but I get to sleep with my hubby every night. For whatever reason, I get to sleep earlier, sleep more deeply and spend far fewer nights on the couch when hubby is around than when he is working. I worry less because when he is at work, I am distracted by the girls and all the things we are doing, so unless he comes home late, I find less time to worry about his safety. I am still adjusting to figuring out the best time to clean (I used to do that at night after the girls went to bed), but now that they are playing so much better together, I don't think it will be long before I will just be able to get it done while they play. I have also enlisted their help on several occasions and that seems to work well. :)
As far as the girls, they are great. They are testing lots of limits right now, especially Em. K is learning what talking back to Mommy means and why it is bad as well as how tone of voice might be interpreted. Emily is two, stubborn, and showing it. She spends a lot of quality time with the wall (time-outs) and we spend a lot of time together, discussing the merits of fits, saying 'no', and learning to listen and obey.
But honestly, they are so much fun that even disciplining all day gets overshadowed by their silliness. They are both so imaginative and pretend play seems to take on whole new levels every day. Just the other day we were under a sheet when K decided we were turtles. We spent forever sticking our heads out of the sheet, looking around and then popping back in to have a discussion about what we saw. They play so well together that I can actually start something and hope to finish it.
I get a lot of cooking done, which is nice as we are much healthier and I don't waste as much food. We have long conversations about nothing every day and they make me laugh all the time. Just the other day I asked K if she was loosing it and then said, "Are you melting?" Her response was, "No! I'm not ice Mom!" I just laughed, gave her a big hug and took her to bed.
They are so curious about everything and I feel like I get to show them new things every day. Today we played with baking soda and vinegar, just for the fun of it. I had put some kool-aid under it to make it bubble in color and when it was done, K asked if we could paint with it. Where that came from, I don't know. K is from a different planet, so I don't try to figure her out. Anyway, we tried it and it made great paint. We all learned something new today!
It's not like every day is like that but I feel like most days are. Whether all we talk about are the types of birds that just went through the back yard or the sounds that letters make, there is always something to learn. I think that's why the discipline doesn't bother me, it's teaching. Sure I get frustrated. I'd be lying if I said I never get angry, but it's more than that. I am taking the opportunities given to me to show my girls how to be respectful and kind. Sometimes it's painful but that's how life is so there's no reason to shy away from it. I digress. I told someone the other day that I like parenting more and more with each new phase my girls go into. And it's true. I never liked the infant stage and if I am honest, the further I get from it, the less I like it. I know a lot of it has to do with getting away from Emily's babyhood but it's more than that. It's their minds. The newness of life. To them, everything is fresh and new and wonderful and exciting. I love getting excited with them. It makes my heart light again and I need that. I've needed that for a long time. The bottom line is that I hope this continues but just in case it doesn't, I am taking this time to enjoy enjoying my kids. I hope you do too!
God Bless!!
