"Momma!!! I forgot to give America her birthday present! Can I go back and give it to her?" Yes I know. It is almost August, but I give myself props for posting this before July is over this year. We had explained to Norah all week that America is a place. She knows Minnesota is the state that we live in, so we explained that there are 50 states and that is what America is made of. Apparently neither of us should apply for a teaching positions any time soon. After we left the block party for "America's Birthday" Norah was very upset that she had forgotten to give America the picture she had drawn for her birthday present :) We celebrated the 4th for days. We went to an amazing outdoor movie party in a friend's backyard the night before. This is where the kids got their first full cup full of root beer and endless popcorn. That made for a crazed little toddler who ran in circles pretending to be a ninja for a full hour. The block party on the 4th started with the annual bike parade which we were nowhere close to winning (oh that's right, it's not a race!) followed by bomb pops, play time with a gazillion kids and fireworks in the street.
After all that fun more friends joined us for BIG fireworks which Clark had claimed to be too scared of all day. He was planning on staying home with daddy. That is until he saw that his friend Ale was going to go. Once he heard that he was in - there was no stopping him. We all walked to the golf course together to watch those big fireworks and once they started Clark was ready to go home. Sitting on daddy's lap covering his ears and crying... that's when I offered for him to sit on my lap which was right next to Ale. He was happy as a clam the rest of the show even throwing in some oohs and awws and repeating whatever Ale would say! Those munchkins are two of a kind and Clark's fallen head over heels for that tiny girl (and so has Norah)... Next up... The Cabin! Love ~ Renee
I have a fear. Someday soon my kids will be in those weird early teen years. They will tell me they hate my guts. They won't want to be seen with me in front of their friends. We'll have to ruin their innocence and teach them about the birds and the bees before one of those so called friends scars them for life. They will want to wear ugly clothes. They will say all their words correctly and their cute toddler accents will be gone. And snuggling will be non-existent.
Nope. That life's not for me! I am never giving up my "I love you momma"'s. I won't ever stop hearing Clark's little toddler accent and the way he expresses himself like he's a grown-up in a tiny chubby body. I will always have the chance to stare at Norah when she is washing between each and every toe in the bath and be amazed at the concentration on her face. I will always get to witness Norah being such a sweet sister and sticking up for her brother. And I will always get to hear her teacher tell us she is the one who makes sure everyone is following the rules and no one around her is ever sad or upset.
These are the moments that make me tick.
One time Norah got a sliver on the stairs of the deck. Weeks ago. Now we hear "Wremembuh Momma... Nowah got a slivuh gowing down dose staiwrs." every.single.time. we see any deck or outdoor furniture made of wood.
In the morning I cannot wait to see what outfit Norah picks out. Like a pink striped sequined tank dress paired with a long sleeve rainbow heart striped undershirt and thigh high rainbow striped socks, glitter leg warmers and shorts underneath (to prevent hello kitty underwear flashings out on the playground). She proudly stops in the bathroom door posing for me as I dry my hair and I tell her how she is the cutest girl I've ever seen.
I decided to try out a new game to get Clark to let me brush his teeth. I said "Let me see if I can find any monkeys in your mouth - open up wide so I can see!" Clark thinks about it, and as he tilts his head and holds my chin in place so I am looking his direction says "Momma, now just be niiiiiiice to dem!" I think he continued with this exact response night after night just because he likes to get a laugh out of me.
Clark has taken to singing a new song that Grandma and Bumpa taught him... The Nickel Song.
He sings it all day long. With drums. Inside and outside.
I think he is getting serious about this drumming...
And of course my little ballerina. So grown up with her hair in a bun and sticker earrings :)
You can tell when she is concentrating or nervous by how far her tongue is sticking out :)
And here's another one of those crazy weirdo faces she makes for pictures now... I love it!
Mother's Day is the day when you get all of your thanks for this so-called thankless job. It is the day when you get a little break from the every day "have to dos" and fill it in with fun instead. It is the day when you reflect on what your mother has done for you, and maybe even what it was like for your Grandmother when her kids were young. While I usually take my thanks daily in the form of snuggles, kisses and drawings of our family standing under a rainbow (that I will save forever), it is nice to have a day weekend where your husband demonstrates his appreciation too :) This Mother's Day Colin corralled, calmed, bathed, fed, and played bathroom trip attendant to our children all weekend! This is by far better than any gift they could have purchased. Even if it was from Anthropologie. In other words, I've got a lot to live up to for Father's Day. While I was downloading a bunch of silly pictures of my Aunts & Uncles from our get-together today I found these still on my memory card - I feel like I found 20 bucks in an old coat pocket! A few weeks ago we visited the train museum and took a ride on a real live train...
I think about visiting Nana often. Do I actually do it? No. Not often enough. I don't because the times I think about those visits are when my mind if quiet (relatively) and it's too late or early in the day to call, or when I'm reminded in some odd way during an activity which prevents me from using the phone at the moment. Lesson: I need more free time during the acceptable calling hours of the day. Well, I finally fixed that. I have every Wednesday home with the kids, and while our afternoons are filled with naps, dinner and swimming lessons, we have a few hours in the morning to do whatever we please! About a month ago I called Nana and invited ourselves over. We brought board games and puzzles and spent the morning having fun at her place. We even stayed for lunch! I think she must have had as much fun as we did because we got an invite back 2 weeks later. This time I brought my camera... There are so many things about our visits that I love. Nana shows us off to all of her friends, she lets the kids get away with everything, and she is so much fun to play games with. I'm also not sure how she does it, but she's filled with nothing but patience and smiles for my little trouble makers. Even when one of them changes her answering machine to Spanish and goes through all of her things, and the other fights with her brother :) It's Spring! A game of memory with some apple juice. Fishing. Nana wins. Until Clark cheats by taking them all out with his fingers. One of the things I love about Nana's... collages of family photos everywhere you turn. I used to stare at this painting while I was waiting to fall asleep at every nap time and every sleepover. I would stare at these even more and try to figure out who was who (uncle Mike was the easiest). Nana let both kids sit on her walker and she pushed them around the entire building! They LOVED it. A large table for a large puzzle. Clark enjoyed looking out the window and finding dead bugs on the inside of the window sill. Love ~ Renee
It's April! Sure, the February cold is still lingering at the doorway saying goodbye. What is with Minnesotans and goodbyes!? And all that snow and ice that March left us? I haven't fallen on the sidewalk in a week or two, so... scratch that. I fell last Wednesday while holding Clark and the ice punctured my skin in a way that made pretty red bloody polka dots on my palm. Don't worry, Clark was in no way harmed. He said "Dat was funnn - let's do that again!" Despite the slow goodbye of the cold and snow, last weekend we actually had a couple of sunny days where we could finally hang outdoors, breathe in fresh air and take photos in actual daylight again. To celebrate this wonderfulness (yes I know today was freaking cold again - these are from Saturday morning) we walked to Turtle Bread and stuffed our faces with chocolate. Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate milk and a mocha for Momma.
Well, it's Februrary. Mid February at that. It's become such a challenge to stop and take the time to think about, let alone document, our family's current events. I have not been digging my camera out lately either, despite the fact that I got the the fanciest schmanciest camera bag for Christmas from my man. Every day seems like a whirlwind and when it is over there's barely enough time to prepare for the next. Sometimes I glance out the window and see people leisurely strolling by sans children. Carrying their hot cups of coffee that they don't think twice about because they aren't having to rope any little ones back in from running too close to the street or pick anyone up from a tumble to kiss boo boos or carry anyone because they are "too tiiiiiiired". I take a portion of a minute to imagine I'm that person, but I find myself instantly sad and missing those tiny people that can drive a girl up the wall at times. They make our lives so much more lively and fun and just plain gushing with love. Even when I am at the end of my rope and just wanting a moment of peace - it's there - the cuteness, the fun, the love. It's just that sometimes I don't realize it until I get my moment of peace. This past weekend reminded me of how I wanted to write about our family. I want to have this to look back on when I am in a big empty house one day wondering where the time went. Wondering what we spent our days on all those years when the kids were growing up. I suppose they might like to read it one day too, and this weekend was one of those that I'd like to hang on to... We kicked it off with Nona & Grandpa coming over to babysit. Colin and I headed off to one of his work events, which actually turned out to be fun for us because we ditched that party and made our own. We really did need a date night and impromptu dates are the best kind! On Saturday morning a dear friend and her daughter came over for a breakfast play date that spilled over into lunch. We could've spent the entire day with them if it wasn't for naps! Her daughter and Clark are like two peas in a pod. They're almost the exact same age and the cutest pair. Their 2 year old brains think alike and they make each other giggle like no one else can. After they left, Clark fell right asleep and I jetted Norah off to Ballet class. We can never ever ever miss ballet class. Ballet class amazes me. It amazes me because in all her four years here on Earth I have never witnessed her concentrate on any one thing so incredibly hard. She watches everyone's every move in class and tries to imitate them to perfection. Once in a while she will break her trance to give me a little look like "I did it Mom, did you see?". Best of all is I can see how much fun she is having the entire time. It is clearly written all over her face! I may not have had my fancy camera with me, but I always have my iPhone... look out I just figured out how Instagram works! Love ~ Renee
