Nature Center

This is what happens when I ask them to look at me and smile.

I think the heat is starting to get to me already (can't believe we had a foot of snow a couple weeks ago) because I've been very grouchy the past couple of days.  This morning I decided we needed to get out into the woods a little so we went to the awesome nature center near our house and walked around the little pond and up a hill then had a picnic lunch.  A very nice little Saturday morning for the girls and I am feeling more clear headed!

Proud Emma after counting some ducks in the pond. 

The girls found a duck eating some algae and doing headstands in the water.  Just after this we found some basking turtles on a rock. 

Rocking on a little dock and pretending we were on a boat.

Starting out on our walk.

Working hard.

Up up up the hill.

Half Birthdays

I very much enjoy celebrating half birthdays.  Especially since the girls are so young and waiting a whole year to have a birthday can seem like forever it's nice to break it up...and it's an excuse to eat cake!  We haven't hit every one, but for Emma's 2 1/2 birthday Tony happened to be home and it was going to work out that we could celebrate together.  Nothing major, just us, food that Emma likes for dinner and cake for dessert (we almost never have dessert, so that alone is a big treat).

After dinner we sang "Happy half birthday to you..." and she blew out her candle and we enjoyed some cake.  Her face says it all.  Love you Emma!

When sisters are quiet

Now that Emma is older and the girls are starting to play together more interactively I am able to sneak away and put laundry away, or run out to do chicken chores, or cook dinner without needing to worry about their entertainment.  They have been enjoying playing together more especially now that Emma likes to use her imagination and also likes playing the "mommy, daddy, baby pretend-type games" and all the variations.  That said, I am always listening for things like speaking kindly to each other, having patience, bumps and thumps, and most terrifyingly...silence.

All parents will tell you that kids tend to be at their sneakiest when things fall quiet and on this day I was in one of the bedrooms putting laundry away when suddenly I heard no more sounds.  Turns out there were sounds just too faint for me to hear.  When I emerged to take a look at what was going on I found this adorable little scene.  Tony loved Richard Scarry books when he was little and this is his original one that was passed down to us.  It is old and falling apart so we keep it on a high shelf that Ada can reach but Emma cannot since Ada also loves it and will be careful with it, but Emma has a destructive streak in her.

Ada was carefully pointing to each drawing and asking Emma what each thing was, giving her encouragement when she got it right or gently saying things like, "good guess, but actually that's a bubble, etc."  Emma was enthralled   I was able to grab the camera and grab a couple of shots before they realized I was there and it messed everything up.

I know that no matter what the best and greatest thing I could ever give these girls is her sister.  I am so happy they have one another.

Reflections on being a mom (Mother's Day a little late)

Since there are many more articles out there that say what I would say about motherhood in a more eloquent way I am not going to write much.  Perhaps my favorite read recently was by Lea Grover in her Huff Post Parents article, "Dear Less-Than-Perfect Mom".  It's a good quick read and she talks about all the things we do that are not so glamorous and that make us real and human and beautiful.  What I love is that she highlights the things we do that many of us feel guilty about or beat ourselves up about and spins them to show that those are the things that make us better moms.  My favorite quote from the article and something I need to remember on the bad days, "Congratulations, Best Mom in the World.  You're not perfect."  Accepting and even embracing the imperfections is something I struggle with but in the spirit of wanting my kids to embrace the things that make them special and unique and "imperfect" I will try harder.

I had wanted to write something before Mother's Day and post on Sunday, but things got away from me last week and alas, here I am.  Tony was off (which was really the best gift I could ask for) and we had a nice family weekend complete with us each getting to spend some one-on-one time with each girl and have a wonderful Mother's Day BBQ with some friends.

I did want to share the awesome Mother's Day gifts we had made for the grandmother's (and for Mama) by a silhouette artist who came to town a few weeks ago.  The girls have a silhouette of me from when I was 2 hanging on their wall and I've been wanting to get one done of the girls for over a year so this was perfect- I even pinned a DIY silhouette on Pinterest but I doubt I ever would have gotten to it!  I think they came out great- you be the judge.

If you remember Emma's Eric Carle Birthday Party, you will remember that we made a wall collage with clear contact paper.  We saved it and when Ada and I went looking for something to wrap these with she picked this out and it was absolutely perfect!  I wanted you to see also how great her handwriting is getting.  I wrote the message and she wrote her and Emma's names and made a heart.  Just love her.

May 2, 2013

I woke up to the sound of my phone's text alert letting me know that school was cancelled today.  For snow.  I knew the forecast and expected a few inches at most, not the 13+ that we actually got.  It was that super heavy snow that breaks all sorts of branches and knocks out the power.  But it was pretty.

Last night I made sure to mention to the girls that we would probably be waking up to snow today so they wouldn't be surprised.  Ada's reaction when she actually laid eyes on the day were, "No, it's not winter anymore, it's spring!  The robins are here and it's warm, not cold!  I'm moving to Florida forever!"  Did I mention she's 4?

Well, after I went out and knocked some of the snow off the tree branches that hadn't already snapped, Ada and I went out to play and do another hen check/ egg check and took a few pictures of the record breaking snowfall while Emma napped.

Our backyard.

You can see the broken limbs and the depth of the snow in relation to the cozy coupe.

I feel bad for the chickens- they do not like the snow.  They are ready for these Minnesota shenanigans to be over.

Since it had been in the 70s for a few days and we were wearing shorts and flip flops, we put the water barrel back up...apparently a bit too soon!

Ada helped me shovel this pathway to the garage but mostly she enjoyed playing jumping, falling, and eating the snow.

Me and my Ada boo- she wanted to make a silly face.