When I grow up...

Four and a half must be the age that kids start thinking about what they want to do when they grow up. Cassidy has been talking a lot about what she would like to do when she's an adult. Things like, Marry Daddy. She also said she wants to be a teacher and live with us, FOREVER. I explained that it might be different when she's older and has her own kids, and she said, "But if I live with you, you can see them every day!" Man, she's good. Her latest idea is that she wants to be a Mommy when she grows up. *sigh*, must be doing something right.

Pink hair and Pirates

Why do all my funny stories start with a trip to McDonald's?? The latest Happy Meal toy is for Pirates of the Caribean (which is rated PG-13). Cassidy got a magic 8 ball in a skull. You lift the eye patch to find things like, Yo-ho-ho Maybe so. Keira got a blow up sword. Yes, you read that correctly. Funny how kids know what to do, she immediately tried to stab us with it. We told her you couldn't poke people and so she started attacking Buddy. Poor dog. Cassidy has been on a pink kick lately. Her latest request was to have pink hair. She told me that and then asked how she could do it. I told her about putting in hair dye and thankfully she said, "So when I'm an adult I can make my hair pink?" "Yes. When you're an adult you can make your hair pink." Phew!

Life In-germs

We had pancakes for breakfast today, and all the girls helped out. Cassidy wanted to help, and so Keira wanted to help too. Since they both can't stir the mix, I put some flour in a bowl for Keira. She had a great time stirring, and then took a big bite! She then figured out that dipping her hands in the flour and lifting them out again made it look like snow. She 'snowed' all over the floor and counters. At least no one was fussing and the clean up wasn't too bad. Daddy normally does pancakes, but he was watching England in the World Cup (sadly lose). During halftime they had a commercial about life insurance on, with a Dad and his son, and the son asks if they have life insurance. Cassidy turns to me and asks, "Life in germs. Why would you have life in germs?"

End of Year

 
Last weekend was the End of Year Party for Cassidy's school. My brother, Kaleb, was in town for the weekend, so he joined us for the event. Of course, it's my brother, so he couldn't resist stirring things up. He got Cassidy to return his "moose ears" along with her best friend Angelina. I didn't realize I was going to catch them in the act with the photo, but it is fun. She did a great preformance for Nana and Grampa before we went, and even sang the songs again the next day for Grandpa Oma for Father's Day. Much to my Dad's dismay, I think, Cassidy remembered all the versus of It's a Small World, and since I interrupted her she started over. Kaleb, Christy and Ariannah were in town for a baseball game. Although Ariannah was in town to stay with her cousins while her parents went to the game. The girls had a great time together. Cassidy was busy trying to give hugs to her little cousin, Keira was busy trying to protect her toys, "No, mine" and Ariannah was just doing her own thing, "Bahwwl" as she pointed out every ball in the house. We had them over for brunch on Father's Day and Cassidy almost started crying when it was time for her little cousin to go. It's a world of laughter, it's a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware that it's a small world after all. 

Birthday Party Bonanza

Phew! What a weekend! Cassidy had a birthday party to attend on Saturday. It was an all girl affair, and quite fun. Then today Keira had a b-day party to attend. This was not gender selective and at a fire house, so it was CRAZY. Siblings had not been mentioned on the invite, but we didn't have time to pick up the gift before the party, so Cassidy and I crashed with the present an hour in. When I came in Keira was having a blast, and looked too cute in her fire hat. It turns out one of Cassidy's school mates was also at the party with his little sister. Cassidy sat next to me while Jeremy told us all about the tour and other events. I noticed the class mate working on a drawing. He saw me, and then sort of hid the paper. A few minutes later on top of the pizza plate Cassidy had been using was a folded up drawing, with her name written on it. I had to preserve her first piece of fan mail. It's really a very good drawing, and he did great trying to spell her name. I'm sure it was just a friendly gesture, but it's too cute to think that she's getting tokens of affection.
  

Yummy yummy marshmallow eater Puffin Noonan

Phew, what a weekend! We went to see Cirque De Soleil's Varekai yesterday. The girls LOVED it. Cassidy asked to see it again today, until she remembered she was having a play date with her best friend. We dropped her off for a couple of hours and then came back to chat with the parents for a few before the tearful goodbye. The play date ended with Cassidy buckled in the car, asking to roll down the window so she could scream out, "I LOVE YOU, ANGELINA" with tears streaming down her face. The loooong weekend came to a close by Cassidy asking to read Jeremy and I a story tonight. It was a book titled, 'Welcome back, Puffin'. A brief synopsis follows. Puffin was flying back to her home, carrying her imaginary friends, who called Puffin "Plane". A lengthy description of the colors of the imaginary friends followed. Finally the baby puffin arrived, who ate 20 fish and 20 salami. Then when baby puffin was left all alone, he had to name himself. He thought, "I like marshmallows, so I will call myself, 'Yummy yummy marshmallow eater' for my first name. 'Puffin' for my middle name and 'Noonan' for my last name." At which point Jeremy and I started laughing and our interest in the story increased. Turns out Y.Y.M.E.P.N. went back to the ocean and ate 20 fish, he was also hunting salami when a shark came and ate the salami. It ended well when more salami showed up and the puffin ate that. The End.

Never leaving the nest...maybe

It is HOT. Okay, by our standards, 85 is HOT. The girls were very fussy today because of the heat, and it was a bit tough to get them down. I laid down with Cassidy for a few minutes, at which point she told me, "Mommy, I want to stay here forever. I don't want to leave our house. I want to live with our family for ever and ever." I told her she could stay as long as she wanted. We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

Mothers Day

 
The girls were kind enough to pose with me this morning. We had a BEAUTIFUL day today, and decided to head to the zoo. The girls had a ton of fun, as did I. Jeremy did great by doing most of the kid wrangling. Then we did some yard work in the early afternoon, followed up by a trip to Trader Joe's. It was quite the busy day. Keira fell asleep on the ride home with a book over her, and that pic is posted below this one. Happy Mother's Day!! 

One tired kid

  

What will your Honey-dew....

if you Cantaloup? Now that warmer weather is upon us, we are enjoying some warm weather fruits. Like melon. Cassidy LOVES melon. Now when I say she LOVES it, I am not understating it by any means. I bought two melons last week and she single handedly ate 1/4 of a GIANT honeydew, that after she ate about 1/4 of a cantaloup. You think she would be done with melon for a bit, but she still wanted it in her lunch the next day, and for dessert that night.

I had a conference with Keira's teacher this week. She informed me that Keira doesn't talk at school. She doesn't say "No" or "Mine", which made me laugh out loud. Anyone who has ever talked to me on the phone with Keira in the same room knows that Keira knows how to say those, quite loudly too.

Membership has it's privileges

For Christmas we asked for a membership to the Aquarium. For months I've been asking Cassidy if she wants to go and she has been saying no. *grumble* All that changed a few weeks ago when we found a video of an octopus attacking a shark at OUR aquarium. The girls fell in love with it. Every night before bed they want to watch it. Keira calls it "shark" when she wants to watch, but then when she sees the octopus, she says, "Modster....Rah!" Which translates to "Monster, roar". So we FINALLY made it to the aquarium this weekend. We made it right at opening, and everyone was sort of milling around waiting for the ticket booths to open. Then I saw it, the membership stand, with a teen already manning the post. I pulled out my card, and the next thing I hear is, "Let me just unlock the door for you." We had the whole place to ourselves. Okay it was only for 5 minutes, but it was great. Yes, membership has it's privileges!

Date Day

Jeremy and I used to have a weekly date night. Now it's more like a monthly date night , but we still make it out for some time without the kids. Cassidy has been acting a bit, hmmm...the word I want isn't really invented yet so I'll skip it, lately. We had a pony pals class scheduled this weekend, and I thought maybe Cassidy could use some time without Jeremy and little sis. I told her we were going to have a date, and we headed off to lunch together. After lunch, we headed off to class, and I dutifully walked by her and the pony in the POURING rain. After class we headed off to look at some other animals. To finish off our date day we headed to Starbucks to warm up with some hot chocolate and a Grande nonfat latte. (Yes I've graduated from a tall.) It was a fun time even though the weather was sort of cold and bleak. I think I have found a new date partner.

Tulip Festival

 
Oma was out last week to watch the girls while school was out. We headed to the Tulip Festival for some R&R. The girls had a blast. Even though Cassidy calls Tulip Town "Ice Cream Town" now. 

I love you a lot

Tonight after baths, Cassidy was jumping on our bed and being a little wild. She kicked me, and I asked her to apologize for hurting me. She did and then gave me a big hug. Then as she continued to jump, she told me, "Mom, I love you a lot." "I love you too." "I love you more than you me." "Oh, really. You love me more than I love you?" "Yeah. A million million more. I love you as big as Triceratops Poop, which is as big as the bath tub!" I feel so loved.

Twins

The girls made it to school today, and Jeremy and I made it back to work, for most of the day at least. The sitter called in sick, no surprise as she has what we have. Oops! So we picked up the girls and headed to the grocery store to pick up some dinner. The girls love the big grocery carts that are a truck or a race car, and they clammored in. We passed a woman, who said under her breath, "Must be twins." Then 10 feet past her, a woman asks Jeremy, "Are they twins?" Keira must be catching up quick. I would have never thought them twins as they look so different, but then again, they didn't say, "Identical Twins". It is obvious they are sisters though.

Recovering...at least the kids are

It has been a rough week for all of us. Keira had the worst of it with all the coughing and nose wiping. Cassidy had a hard time as she was feeling ill, but had to deal with Mom and Dad being occupied with Keira. Then there was Mom and Dad. Juggling work schedules, telecommutting and never letting Keira's feet hit the ground have been the norm. Now that the weekend is upon us, and the weather is great, Mom and Dad have sore throats and want to sleep all day. Keira, can you get Mommy some juice??

Croup, anyone?

This weekend I kept thinking I needed to blog. The girls were doing all sorts of stuff, that I have already forgotten. Darn! I feel like Dory from Finding Nemo, short-term memory loss. What was that? Oh yeah, Keira was up most of the night coughing. I suspected the *croup*, so I set Jeremy up by the cracked window for her to settle down. We took her in to the pediatrician and yup, it's the *croup*. So now Jeremy and I have to juggle schedules to accomodate the girls staying home for the rest of the week as they are "highly contagious". It won't matter soon, as the doctor asked which one of us had had laryngitis. Neither. "Well, when you do get it, now you'll know who to blame." Neh-ber!!

NEVER!

Cassidy has been playing Dr. Jeckyll and Ms. Hyde lately. One minute she's being a little angel, and even asks, "Mommy, am I being nice?" The next minute, she's fussy, bossy and mean at the same time. I'm not sure where she picked it up, but when she's a real funk and you ask her to do something she yells, "NEVER!" at the top of her lungs. Which is quite funny, in 20 years... We told her that Keira would copy her if she kept doing it, so we started giving her punishments for yelling this. It stopped, for a few weeks. It surfaced again this weekend. *sigh* Jeremy just picked up Keira to take her to bed, and she started fussing. Jeremy said to her, "It's time for bed." and Keira yelled out, "NAHBER!" Why did we have to be right?

Who's prettier?

 
I just found this picture on my camera. Seems Dad took it the other morning when Cassidy was helping Mischief get glamoured up for the day. Cassidy had asked me to put braids in her hair, and I swear she just looks angelic when she has them in. Which only lasts about 5 minutes since her curls just want to jump out. 

Birthday Circle

Montessori does a nice thing for birthdays called Birthday Circle. The have a mat with the solar system on it, and light a candle for the sun. Then the child holds a globe of the Earth and walks around the sun for each year. Very cute. They also ask you to write down memories so the teacher can share them with the class. For when she was born the teacher read off that "Oma" was waiting at home. The teacher asked who Oma was. "Oma is my grandma and so is Oma Grandpa. And I have another grandma too. Nana and Nana Grandpa. Oma is my Mom's Mommy and Nana is Daddy's Mommy. But they are my grandmas. Oma and Nana." Jeremy and I had a hard time not laughing out loud. I fully expected a report on what kind of hair they each had and what type of glasses to come out of her mouth next.