A Brilliant Marketing/Brainwashing Scheme
After bathtime tonight, we caught The Wild movie on the Disney channel. Anna was really into it and couldn't wait to see if the baby lion got back to his daddy. (This is yet another opportunity for us to use a Disney movie to show what happens to kids who run away from their parents. Finding Nemo, of course, is the other one that we constantly refer to. I think Anna is convinced a "stranger" is a scuba diver...)

Anyway, Matt had a late conference call so when he came up Anna was watching the movie by herself and I just came out of Megan's room from putting her down. A commercial came on and Matt and I both said, "Okay Anna. It's over. Time for bed." She promptly responded, "No, it will be back soon." Thanks Disney. Now my two year old child knows that a commercial simply is a brief break and to hold tight because you'll be back real soon. Thank you for consistently reminding her of that.

Sick Days

Anna and Megan were both sick with a stomach virus a few weeks ago. It wasn't too terrible but enough to make us stay inside all day for about five days while they passed it back and forth. One morning, Anna was laying on the couch watching a movie in her sweet little pjs. Although she was sad and yucky feeling, she never looked prettier to me. Sometimes sick days aren't too bad, because it makes even mommy and daddy slow down, take a break, and really enjoy these moments.

Just the Beginning, Really
We walked up to the park last night. I reminded Anna that we were simply playing on the playground and that none of us were going to play in the sand volleyball court.
"Remember Anna. When we get up there, you must leave your shoes on and you cannot climb up the steps to get in the sand."
"I know Mommy. No sand, no touching it, no shoes off. End of story."

Safety First
On our way to our library class this morning, I decided to let the girls run at the park for about 20 minutes.
Me to Anna:
"We have to get to class so we're only going to play for a little while - just to burn some energy."
Anna in a quick, sharp voice:
"I'm not going to get burned Mama! I'm going to wear my burn lotion."

Summertime Memories

I have been looking forward to this summer for about one year :) I knew this would be a fun summer with the girls since Megan would be walking and we'd have two toddling around. It's hard to explain, but watching these girls grow before my eyes is one of God's greatest gifts. To see your one and two year old get so excited to splash in a pool or explore a sandbox or squeal with delight on a swingset or watch their garden grow or stand in awe at the height of their kite is so amazing when you step back and really see what's going on. As much as our days are crazy when we attempt new adventures, I truly do love every one of our days and am very thankful I get to make these memories with our daughters.

Matt and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on May 29. We decided to celebrate with a romantic weekend getaway to South Bend, Indiana complete with a 5+ hour trip with a 2 year old and 16 month old. We were shocked when we found out Anna and Megan were able to clear their schedule for the weekend and able to make our dream come true!

We haven't been up there since Myla's first birthday party because we didn't think we could do a car trip with the girls until now. Surprisingly, everyone was very cooperative and pretty happy the whole way. We stopped at the same church playground we found last year in order to stretch and burn energy and made it up for dinner on Friday. We went to the zoo and a minor league baseball game on Saturday. On Sunday we walked to a nearby park and then headed home just after lunch. It was a fantastic weekend other than Myla not feeling too well, but she was a good sport and all the girls had fun together. I think these cousins are the cutest little girls and I love seeing them together! We were sad to miss Myla's second birthday party but this definitely ended up working out better since we got to hog Matthew, Kasey and Myla all to ourselves :) It was also wonderful for the four adults to have "alone" time at night because we never seem to find that when we're all together in KY. Can't wait for more trips and "sleepovers" for the girls!

Special Treats

Around here, special treats are truly special. Cookies, cakes, ice cream, candy and anything else that creates a sugar high are used as rewards or "special treats" on special occasions. We like it this way for many reasons but mostly because Anna gets so excited when she gets a treat since it's pretty rare. One night after dinner, we headed to the new United Dairy Farmers for ice cream (Yee-haw! We've been pretty excited about the new "chain" moving into Independence). We ate outside and had a really fun time watching the girls get so happy from the taste of summertime. Megan shared strawberry sherbert with me; Anna had something called superman (I think). The guy working told us it tasted just like cake icing -and it did!- so we knew Anna would love it; and Matt -and Anna on round two- enjoyed chocolate chip cookie dough.

Food, Glorious Food

When we move one day, one of the main things that our new house must have is a large, open kitchen where people can gather around meals. This will include gathering together to cook, eat, pray, or to just plain watch and talk. So many of my memories involve the kitchen on Rogers Road with my family and with friends. So many of my new memories with my own babies are in our own kitchen too. With the eve of summer around us, the "kitchen" has quickly extended to the deck. I love taking pictures of meal time with the girls because it always turns out to be an eventful and expressive experience.

Making Rice Krispie Treats together for the first time.

"Popping" edamame, one of Anna's favorite eating activites.

Digging into Grandma's birthday cake (she thought we got it just for her).


Lunchtime outside

Our Little Piglet

Despite the doomsday weather forecast, the Flying Pig Marathon festivities got off to a good start this morning down on the river. All of us have been preparing for this weekend for quite some time, including 2 year old Anna who participated in her first major sporting event - The Piglet Race. To say that we were excited is an understatement. We have been helping Anna practice for weeks by running on the streets around the neighborhood. Although it was only a 25 yard dash, the athletes in me and Matt couldn't help but get pumped for our baby girl's first athletic event. She would walk around telling anyone she could that she was going to run a race and get a medal. She was even mentally prepared to run in the rain if she had to.

So we got down there at about 12:15 for her 12:45 start. Both sets of grandparents were there to cheer her on. Megan was ready in her illegally-taken-"I-got-my-OINK-on"-shirt-that-some-worker-at-the-Expo-yesterday-gave-us-for-free. We were all set to watch this moment of stardom for little Anna. Maybe it was the crazy mascots that raced before us (including a carrot and the Keebler Elf), maybe it was the screaming child at the start line, or maybe it was that we got there too close to start time for her to "get the feel", but something spooked our little girl. There we were at the start. She was excited, game face on, scoping her competition next to her. I was at the finish with the video camera, Matt was at the start holding her hand. Then it happened -she burst into tears. Poor Anna was scared to death and couldn't even finish the last 22 yards. Matt had to carry her over the finish line and our little girl who was so very excited to have a medal, couldn't even see it handed to her as she wiped her tears.

Oh no, has it already started? Are WE those crazy parents that push our kids too hard to be good at sports? Okay, maybe we'll lay off the late night back neighborhood sprints for awhile and cut back on the protein shakes at lunch. We'll stop letting Anna do Ab Ripper X at night. This day was just too much for her to handle, but one day Anna WILL love being an athlete and her mommy and daddy will be her biggest fans. We're still so proud of you Anna!

P.S. After all the age groups were finished, Anna got back out there with her daddy and ran the full 25 yards tear free and very happily!

Spring Photo Shoot

We met Rene (the same photographer we've used since Anna was born) at Eden Park a few weeks ago for a most amazing photo shoot. The flowers were gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and the girls were, surpisingly, angels for 2 1/2 hours of photography. It was all well worth it as I'm sure you'll agree when you see the results. Rene specializes in children's photography which explains why she can capture such amazing moments on film even though her subjects should be revolting from "working" overtime. Enjoy and be glad that you don't have to narrow the choices! http://www.studio-pics.com/morethanwords/index.php?gallery=Zumbiel

Mini-Vacation

We took a small trip to Cumberland - to Matt's family's place - last week for two nights/three days. We did not go boating out on the lake, but rather just stayed around the house. Anna and Megan had a great time exploring. Anna learned some new "tricks" including fishing and riding a bike with training wheels. Surprisingly, she was very interested in fishing. It was really cute because she would take the pole as soon as we threw it out, immediately reel it in, check if she caught a fish, and then in the sweetest voice say, "Awww, no fish. Maybe next time we'll get one." And then the same thing would be repeated about 15 times. Each time brought just as much excitement at the final reel to see if a fish was caught. What a nice lesson about hope :) We all had a nice time away and the girls loved spending time with their cousins.