"Who's flashing a flashlight mommy?"

I woke this morning to the flashes of lightening and the sounds of thunder.  I seriously cannot believe it is March 15 and I had to drive home with the A/C on yesterday...crazy.

Storms are not my thing.  I must admit I get a bit freaked out when it comes to storms, sometimes BBMing friends with a play-by-play just to feel like someone is with me. (oh, the scariest storms seem to happen when Darcy is at work)  My husband on the other hand sits on the front porch or stares out the back window watching every streak.

It then dawned on me that the girls may freak out.  Last year they slept through all storms, so we did not have to explain what was going on.

What was I going to say?...quick, cause they are going to get up.  So, when I heard Fia say, "who is flashing those flashlights mommy, they are so silly"  I knew I had to mask my nervousness.  Not an easy thing to do...hide my inner fear of storms.

I explained to them that it was thunder and lightening and that the boom was just a noise outside, not scary.  To my luck they bought it!  Emily, went to their bookshelf  and retrieved a book that showed thunder and lightening and the sounds they make.  "boom! and splatz!" 

For the ride to daycare they talked about boom and flashlights, how they are not scared and that it is just a noise we know where it comes from, the sky.

I thought  I was free and clear until bed time...then the questions started about why there are storms and then Emily broke the ice...."Mommy if we are a little scared we can come to your room right?"  she said this with a smile on her face like she just found a way to sleep with mommy that she might agree to...and I did. 

To date, we have avoided having the girls sleep with us all night.  They try and talk me into it when daddy is working, but I cannot sleep when there is a super hot, washing machine glued to my side...so we have just cuddled in the morning or when they are sick....and now when there are storms.

This will be the first year the girls will remember "boom and flashlights"  Lets hope there are not too many this season as I think our bed will get cramped pretty quickly!

Ciao
R - xo

The winter that wasn't! - Our 1st snowman

Crazy winter, crazy weather = some crazy fun this year for the girls.  This was the first year the girls really played in the snow and made their first snowman! 

Emily put the arms on and asked for a hat and carrot for the nose...dad added the eyes.  I was very proud of them!  I looked out a few minutes later and it looked like Emily was giving the snowman a kiss...but she was actually eating his carrot nose! 

Crazy.... Silly.....Fun!

Ciao

R-xo

Skating

Darcy and I both play sports, hockey, ball hockey specifically so getting our girls interested in skating is kinda a big deal for us....cause I am expecting to be hanging around arenas for the better part of the next 10 years.

The girls went skating for the first time this past weekend.  My  mom had got them a pair of bob skates, so we strapped them on the took them out.  To our delight they were excited! 

They walked, and ran and tried to slide, but in the end they mostly walked or ran.  They were so proud of themselves for not falling.  " Mommy I didn't even falled, nope not one time.  Can we go again next time?"  It was such a positive experience and that was my goal. 

Christmas 2011

Christmas is finally here.  I am just like a kid, cannot wait to wake up and see "how good I was this year"

Last year the girls did not get the concept of racing down to the christmas tree to delight in thier good behaviour.....and this year was not any different.

Christmas Eve, Darcy and I set the reindeer food out while the girls watched us.  Emily suggested the reindeer might need a drink, so okay, we put a dish of water out too.  Before we went to bed, Darcy did the traditional kick of the dishes and off to dreamland we went...with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Morning arrived and nothing.....we hinted around about Santa and reindeers....still nothing, then Emily say the mess on the front porch.  We told them that the reindeer had come and maybe Santa stopped by too.  Then they clued in and raced down stairs....

We had a great morning with all the delights that Christmas brings.  We had a great day with family at my parents. 
I am so thankful for the joys that surround me.

Merry Christmas All!

When I am bigger

"When I am a big girl I can ride a school bus right mommy?" 

Growing up.....what does that exactly mean?  A physical change?, mental change? For toddlers this is not just a growth spurt, it means gaining confidence to be independent.  Emmy is all over this stage now.  She wants to do a lot of things, and if I take the time to let her, she actually can do it.  The praise she gets for a job well done tickles her pink!  She seems to craves this attention.

Sophia, is not quite like that.  She is more than happy to have someone else do things for her...actually she had made it into her own art form...and we usually respond like a trained monkey. 

Emily seems to ask us every day what can she do when she is bigger or tells us what she is going to do when she gets bigger.

The list is long but I have short listed to the top few:

• "When I am a big girl, I can ride a big girl bike (or a scooter, they are interchangeable) right?"
• "When I get bigger I can take the garbage to the garbage man right?"
• "When I get bigger can I ride on the moon?  Mommy can I?  I really want to, up I do?"
• "When I am bigger I can go skating right?  Daddy will take me right?"

"Mommy I am a little girl right? But I will get big some day right?"  I hope so princess, just not on fast forward please!

Toddler Moments

We have had some monster toddler moments lately…..Yup...the girls have discovered they can have alot of fun being toddlers.....

• like when they breathe on windows and leave their hand and foot prints in the fog...so when you come to my house, there are messy windows at the 3 foot level!. 
• Emmy has also discovered that Sophia will let her marker each of her toes in a different colour while sits and watches. 
• They both have decided that if they want to climb the outside of the staircase, the safest way is to climb one at a time while the other spots (or holds them up by the bum). 
• Gone are the days of putting anything up high.  They seem to have these mini chairs and step stools attached to their backs so they can deploy them when they need to….and to boot, they have put the stool on the chair to gain just enough to get what they want.
• We have also entered the era of picking out our own clothes (esp unddies and socks), deciding which clothing items are whom’s even though they are the same shirt

But they have also started to roll play with their imaginations…..

• like when they play “going to school” They line up 2 chairs, sit on them and pretend that they are driving to school, one is always the driver and the other stands in the hall and waits for the driver to say “time to go to school, get on the bus” 
• They also will pretend to shop together...they get their babies, put them in their shopping carts, pushing them around, mimicking me! “baby just sit down and keep your hands in the cart” “Just a minute mommy need to look at this” “stop foolin around” “there is no potty in the store, so don’t ask” I seriously did not think I said half the stuff they do…but they have had to get it from somewhere! 
• Cover up baby is a fan fav…..Sometimes the baby cries and needs a bum change (watching them pretend to change a diaper is hilarious). I must admit, this one takes a bit longer to roll play and I have been known to suggest” let’s play cover up” to get some peace, but only for about ½ hour…..

There are times I see babies randomly sitting against a wall….to which Sophia tell me that "the baby is on time away for not listening" and she has to sit there until I give her a hug and kiss and she says sorry. 

WOW….they really do listen and notice when I am talking. If I would not have seen it, I would not have believe it.

Then there are the toddlers prefer to party nekkid moments.....In fact, they prefer to do most things nekkid.  You know that toddlers have to take off all their clothes to use the potty...in the middle of the kitchen! 

Never in a million years would you think that you would have to remind them to at least put underwear on to eat dinner.  I seriously cannot believe how often Darcy and I have these converstaions with them.  

Ahh..toddlers have the life and can be awe struck in wonderment!



Cheers
R-ox

Fall Family Fun

In my childhood, my family would attend all the fall fairs they could, taking in the cool crisp breezes as we whizzed around on ride after ride after ride under the bright ball park lights.  Sometimes grandparents or other family friends would attend and we usually spent the entire day walking through buildings full of food vendors, perusing 4-H winning displays, petting hoards of animals and taking in a smash up derby, a horse show or some country singers performance.  I had such fond memories of these trips which usually ended with all of us kids passed out in the back seat for the ride home.

To this day I still enjoy a good ride on the scrambler or the snow express with the screaming music and would like Pookie and Munchie to have the opportunity to experience these too. 

The first event I went to (Darcy was working) was Mighty Machines.  I was so looking forward to seeing the girls get excited about pretending to drive all the trucks, diggers, dozers and tractors, (played it up in my mind pretty good) that when we got there and Sophia tried to walk on air to get back to the car and go home, I started to cry - the disappointment was too overwhelming.  The horn honking was too loud and scared them both.  Emmy did not want to get out of the stroller, let alone climb into a combine.  I walked around for an hour trying to calm their fears and eventually they warmed up to taking their turn driving the garbage truck.  The day ended up being not a total bust and Grandpa enjoyed the rollover demonstration. 

Fun on the surf

Enjoying the Parade, well not Sophia

is that a smile I see?

Going on a turtle hunt

 Apple Fest in Brighton, was where we went next.  We actually were visiting friends (long overdue visit) and while we were there spent a wonderful weekend taking in the local fare.  The Callahan's were perfect hosts and we had so much fun.  The girls played with their girls and for the most part were out of our hair which was a nice change.  The local parade was neat to see but this is where we figured out that Sophia was not going to enjoy anything that she considered loud, and the local parade down main street, with the bands, floats and antique tractors all making noise had her with her fingers in her ears the entire time.  The girls did enjoy partaking in a ducks in the pond game, where they had to pick a duck as it floated by and if they picked a winning duck, they got a prise - their first Carney game.....and they both won stuffed ducks.  How fitting!  the next day, after the adults had enough coffee....we went to the surf and wetlands boardwalk tour.  The girls chased geese up the beach, splashed in the water, getting totally soaked and went on a frog and turtle hunt.  We did see frogs, but no turtles to Emmy's disappointment. 

We packed in a lot on this visit, just the way we roll!