Pack Rat

Confession time, I'm a bit of a pack rat.  My mom is too, she sort of cursed me that way. ;)  We hang on to all sorts of stuff.  Last summer I came home with this old nightgown of mine (which is rather threadbare, hence the long sleeved shirt under it.  It IS still February you know, despite it being 60 degrees today).  I even have some matching black and hot pink hot pants that go with it.  Sydney rocked it for awhile, but tonight it was Mady's turn.  Poor Sydney was not pleased to find that her Mickey Mouse pjs were no longer hers (this happens a lot).  What's a girl to do?

 Raid Mommy's dresser!  She was pleased as punch when she found this little number.  And let me just say, that paired with the red heart covered leggings and white socks pulled up to her knees that she chose, she looked very Valentine-y.  Can you believe this shirt was mine when I was like 8 years old?  And it still fits me?  Shocking I know, but it means I'm either really small chested now, or I wore really big shirts as a kid.  But hey, that was really in then, remember?

 Look at these happy little monkeys.  Now imagine them sound asleep in their beds.  Ahhh.  I'm going to go enjoy that for a bit until my youngest looses her pacifier and wakes me from a dead sleep at 2 AM. 

All Dressed Up

Sydney's not much of a girly girl, but the kid still likes to sport some princess wear once in a while.  Today she found a set of press on  nails that we got on after-Halloween clearance for like 30 cents.  She begged me to put them on her and this is what we ended up with.

 And yes, those are spiders on them.  Awesome right?  To a 3 year old, yes.  She's in heaven.  We also made our first successful attempt at french braids.  Don't get me wrong.  I know how to french braid, but this little miss's hair never fell out when she was a baby and it's still as soft and fine as it was when she was teeny, so it doesn't like to stay in stuff like this without massive amounts of gel and hair spray.  She's going to hate it when she's older.

 All dressed up and no place to go.  Guess we'd better head to Target!

We're planning pedicures for this afternoon and she's stoked. 

I love having girls.

Some Fun Times

Sorry for my absence.  My madre and sister came for a little visit and let's face it, I don't blog when I have company.  Too much chatting to do!  So here's what we've been doing.  Syd and I made some tasty rolls for Sunday dinner (are you shocked that I cooked?  Aaron is, but he actually made the turkey, so I don't actually get full credit for that one).

 Doesn't Syd look darling in this rockin' apron I made in 8th grade home ec?

 My sister has heard us rave about our zoo too many times, so despite this chilly temps, we braved the weather on Monday and headed downtown.  Right before this picture, we exited Bird World to discover a fat little squirrel sitting in the bottom of my stroller inside my soft sided cooler.  Little devil had ripped the plastic and the insulation out and strung it around, ripped the crap out of the zipper, and was eating a turkey sandwich.  And here I though squirrels were herbivores.  Beast.  I have bad luck with small animals.  Better luck with the big ones.  The teeny baby orangutan Hesty was showing off for just us and made the whole trip worth it.

 Jessica had to go home on Tuesday (sniff) and it got freezy cold.  We made sugar cookies to stay warm and hung out a little closer to indoor heating for the next few days.  On Saturday Nana took the girls to the park on the "boat" she got them for Christmas.  By the time Aaron and I arrived to take pictures, Mady was through sledding and had rediscovered the slide.  Slogging through 18 inches of snow when you're not quite 3 feet tall is a little much, but she kept going, taking advantage of the lack of kids at the playground (aka, we were the only ones crazy enough to be playing at the park while it was covered in snow).

Nana and Sydney had a great time sledding down the big hill at the park.  This was really the girls' first time going, so it was fun to see Sydney realize that this was fun!

 Look at that smile!

Here's a little video of Nana and Sydney going down th hill.  Sorry it's a little bumpy, but you can tell they're having fun!

The snow is all but gone now, so it was good we enjoyed it while we did!

Something's Wrong Here

Tonight I offered my kids 2 dessert options:

Popcorn

or

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Pudding, Whipped Cream, and English Toffee bits

They chose popcorn

and then forgot about it.

St. Valentine's Day

Fun Times

 Yesterday was kind of a rough day for us. I had two of the whiniest kids on the planet (freezing temperatures, being sick, etc. will do that to you), we had to take the cat to the vet for his last boosters (during nap time!) so then we had a whiny cat on top of all of it. I'm sick too, so I'm not exactly the most patient person in the world. By evening we were all going nuts, so we had to sit down and de-stress.  I made a New Years Resolution to try to only yell at my kids on special occassions.  I haven't done very well this week, so I was trying to redeem myself.  We set up a whole little Playdough operation and we all had lots of fun.

  Art is good therapy right?  So I got in on the action too.  I think I have a bright future ahead of me.

  Sydney made a family and about a  million shapes.  She had much more fun than it looks like.

 Mady took the playdough out of the can, tore it into a billion teeny pieces, and put it all back in.  She loved every second of it.

Love That Girl

Sydney is not usually much of a cuddle bug, at least not to me.  She's a definite Daddy's girl, and while I know she loves me, she's usually more affectionate to the cat than to me.  (Who happens to be laying on my shoulders trying to get some attention as I write this!)  But today was different.  Everytime I moved anywhere away from her, she said, "But I just want to hug and kiss you, Mommy!"   When  got after her for splashing bath water everywhere and sent her out of the bathroom so I could clean it up, she came running back in saying, "I just need to give you a kiss!"  After putting her to bed, she came out saying, "I love you so much, Mommy!  I just want you to hold me!"  How could I say no to that?  We snuggled, and then after I heard, "Still snuggle me Mommy" we snuggled some more.  I love my girls, and today was a fun day with my little Sydney Bean.  I love you baby girl.

A Good Start to our Day

At 8 AM it was -11 degrees.  Brrr!  How do we start a cold day like this?  By bundling up in pullovers and sweatpants and having a breakfast of milk, bananas, and wheat thins under the table.

Guess whose idea this was?