Monkies

Amelia now can do the monkey bars as you can see in the video. As you can also see, Gemma is a little monkey and finds troublesome things to do every time my eye wanders for even a moment.

While the kids are away...

The toys will play. Or at least, the trains will play Pokemon cards.

Gemma on Easter Morning

Here is Gemma discovering the wonder of Easter eggs with a few jelly beans inside.

Honesty is the best policy

Amelia and I went to a birthday party for one of her classmates a few weekends ago. As part of the treat, there was cake and a variety of flavors of individual ice cream cups.
Trying to be helpful, I handed out the ice cream cups while the mother cut cake for the excited crowd.

The littlest party guest told me she wanted chocolate ice cream*. Chocolate? Yes, she nodded. I grabbed one from the bag and handed it to her before moving on the next child.

Then I noticed the girl's face. She appeared horrified. She had her hands up in the air as if there was a big spider in front of her instead of a cup of ice cream. When I asked her what was wrong, she replied that she had requested STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM! THIS IS CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!

I apologized and switched out the ice creams. As I handed her the strawberry ice cream I off handed my said, "I'm sorry- sometimes it's hard for me to remember things. I'm getting old."

Upon hearing this, Amelia's head popped up and she bellowed, "You're not SO old mom! YOU'RE ONLY..."

Which is when I clapped my hand over her mouth.

She pulled the hand away from my mouth and practically screamed in her excitement, "BUT YOU'RE ONLY 35 MOMMY! THAT ISNT VERY, VERY OLD!"

Thank you dear girl for announcing my age to a whole crowd to verify that I am only a little old. Not very, very old.

*I swear she said chocolate and I confirmed it before handing it to her. I think she changed her mind after her friend chose strawberry....

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Key, v.infinity

This has been an epic year for keys for me. Tuesday, I went to pick up Gemma after work at the babysitter's house. I packed up her things and buckled her into her car seat. I didn't have a pocket, so I tossed the keys into my cup holder so I would easily be able to find them. As I shut Gemma's door and walked around the car, I hear the van beep. I was busy thinking about laundry, dinner and the impossibility of a nap.

When I reached the driver's side door, it was locked. I peered into the door to see that my keys had fallen out of the cup holder, landed on the remote, and locked the door. What is the probability of that happening? Really! I'm not sure I could do it again if I wanted to.

So, Gemma is buckled into her carseat and locked in. She is locked in with the keys. I ran through my options and then went back in the house to consult with the babysitter. The easiest solution was to take her car to our house, pick up an extra key and then drive back while the sitter stood in the driveway watching Gemma.

All in all, it worked out. I do not recommend. At least it wasn't very hot or very cold, right?

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"Sleeping in a thousand star hotel"

Title credit goes to the okiedokie brothers.

Alternate titles:

soccer game is cancelled, now what?

What should we do today?

The weather is perfect- let's go!

The great outdoors is calling, we answered

Cutie pie

At breakfast this morning:


Amelia: Hi there cutie pie! Mom! When you moved over, I saw Gemma and I said "hi cutie pie!"

Mama: that was sweet Amelia !(continues to eat cereal)

Amelia: Gemma is a cutie pie.

Mama: she is a cutie pie, isn't she?

Gemma: Numna! Aik a coo pie.

Mama: what?

Gemma: Numna! Aik a coo pie! Cu pie!

Mama: did Amelia call you a cutie pie?

Gemma: Yeah! (It is still so exciting to be understood. She is so happy and usually laughs/claps when we finally get what she is saying)

Mama: are you a cutie pie Gemma?

Gemma: Yeah! Yeah! Cu pie!


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