Story time

I was at Target the other night when I came across this book, I thought it was very sweet. It is also a good reminder to myself.

If i could keep you little... by Marianne Richmond

If I could keep you little, I'd hum you lullabies. But then I'd miss you singing your concert's big surprise.

If I could keep you little, I'd hold your hand everywhere. But then I'd miss knowing, "I can go... you stay there."

If I could keep you little, I'd kiss your cuts and scrapes. But then I'd miss you learning from your own mistakes. 

If I could keep you little, I'd strap you in real tight. But then I'd miss you swinging from your treetop height.

If I could keep you little, I'd decide on matching clothes. But then I'd miss you choosing dots and top and stripes below.

If I could keep you little, I'd cut your bread into shapes. But then I'd miss you finding, "Hey! I like ketchup with my grapes!"

If I could keep you little, I'd push you anywhere. But then I'd miss you feeling your speed from here to there!

If I could keep you little, I'd tell you stories every night. But then I'd miss you reading the words you learned by sight.

If I could keep you little, I'd pick for you a friend or two. But then I'd miss you finding friends you like who like you, too!

If I could keep you little, we'd finger-paint our art. But then I'd miss you creating stories from your heart.

If I could keep you little, I'd push your ducky float. But then I'd miss you feeling the wind behind summer's boat. 

If I could keep you little, we'd nap in our fort midday. But then I'd miss you sharing adventures from camp away. 

If I could keep you little I'd fly you with my feet. But then I'd miss you seeing sky and clouds from your seat.

If I could keep you little, I'd keep you close to me. But then I'd miss you growing into who you're meant to be!

March Madness

John has been away on his annual trip with the boys to enjoy the March Madness Basketball games and to relax and recharge. While I am glad that we both get opportunities to do things like that, it isn't typically a time I look forward to. Let's face it, single parenting isn't easy even if you know it's only gonna be for a few days. But I have to say that this year it has been quite enjoyable. Maybe it's b/c Anabelle is getting older and more helpful, or maybe I am just getting more used to what to expect from these days, but we've actually had a great long weekend! On Thursday we just stayed home and got things done around the house. This included: Making pancakes for breakfast (very important-lol!). Finally packing up and putting in storage ALL the baby clothes that Charlotte has worn in the past year. Lots of laundry, lots of playing, reading, chasing, dancing, building, chasing, and more chasing :). And we made brownies (which we shared with Grandma and Grandpa, so as not to eat the entire pan :) 

On Friday Grandma came to visit in the morning and we attempted to take Anabelle to dance class, but when the teacher was a no-show we decided to go to Target instead. We found some cute Easter dresses and cardigans that were very reasonably priced. The dresses were on sale for $10 each and the sweaters for $13 each, to get both kids dressed in cute matching outfits for under $50 is pretty good. We also picked up a new cabinet for toys in the main level living room. I have been looking for something to hold our legos, train set, building blocks, and puzzles for a long time and just couldn't find what I was looking for without spending a ton, so I settled for a put it together yourself cabinet and I think I'm gonna go back and get some of the cubby hole shelves to go with it. Once I have it all done I'll take a picture so you can see what I mean. Anyway... it was a successful trip to Target. For a treat we headed to McDonald's for lunch to burn off some energy in the play land. Back home we took naps and then post nap, we put together our new cabinet. Had I not been so busy making sure Charlotte didn't get hurt somehow, or eat any thing dangerous I could have taken pictures, but it was pretty fun to have their "help". Anabelle is quite the builder, using her hammer to follow along behind me, and of course Charlotte has to do everything Anabelle does, so she was right there with her toy wrench "hammering" all the screws in too. It probably took about 4 times as long as it should have, but we finally got it all put together. 

Saturday we went to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the fun

. I wasn't sure how well Charlotte would like the bunny, but she did great! The girls looked so cute in their little dresses and we were lucky enough to get there right when it opened and so we only had a couple of people in line ahead of us. After pictures we went to the play area to run around and then it was off to Golden Corral for some lunch. Anabelle and Grandpa's favorite restaurant, it's a brand new one in Batavia and it actually is pretty good. Especially with kids it's a good deal- they eat free. It's nice because you have such a wide selection, so if they don't like something you haven't wasted money. After lunch with Grandma and Grandpa it was time to head home for naps! We were all exhausted :)  On the way home we talked about what to do after nap, we were thinking of going to the library but they close at 5 and so when I told Anabelle that we probably wouldn't make it there on time. She asked if we could go to the "library on the street". I wasn't sure what she was talking about and after a few minutes of discussion she said, "the one with the trains." This made me realize she was talking about the Barnes and Noble book store on the corner! They are within walking distance from our place and they have story time and a train table for the kids to play with. Of course a "library on the street!" So when we woke up we loaded into the double stroller, or as I call it "the bus" and walked to the book store. It was nice to get some fresh air, and it is a good workout pushing that thing,with kids alone it is 50 lbs, probably 65 lbs when you add in the weight of the stroller. We arrived at the book store and Anabelle walked up to the train table which was full of kids and said in a most grown up voice, "Well hello there! My name is Anabelle, I'd like to play trains with you!" All the kids looked at her like she was crazy and all the adults chuckled. It was pretty cute! Let me tell you the book store is the place to be on a Saturday night if you have kids. It was very busy and lots of kids were having a great time playing and looking at books. Charlotte was a little slow to join in, but eventually had fun playing trains too. Saturday was a great day! 

I'm not sure what happened on Sunday; I had been doing so well and felt a little like Super Mom, thinking "this isn't so hard!" Three days alone and the girls were happy, rested, we played, and I was feeling good. Then Sunday came and I started to feel burnt out. I was ready for my partner in parenting to come back home- now! But I still had most of the day to get through. It was one of those days where everything that could go wrong did, and I struggled to not get too frustrated. Ah well it can't all be sunshine and roses. John came home later in the evening and boy were we happy to have him home!

Now it's my turn to plan a trip away :) and see how Daddy does as a "single parent"

cuddles

Anabelle got a new robe from Grandma and Grandpa, she loves wearing it after her shower.

Meeting the bunny.

Sisterly love

The train table at the book store

busy

Little Miss Charlotte is so busy lately. She is into opening every drawer and cabinet and exploring everything inside. Her favorites are the Ziploc baggie drawer, the kids cup/snack bowl drawer, and the board game cabinet. She is on the move either crawling up the stairs, or running around the main level. She tries to climb on things and is curious about everything! She also loves to be picked up and she points to where you should take her to check out the things she can't reach on her own. She is quite opinionated about what she wants to do, and really lets you know it. :)  We are noticing that she is becoming better at following one step directions, such as "bring ___ to Mommy"," put ___ in the bin", or walking to where we need to go for transitions like "Let's go take a bath". She loves to have music on and dance, I have been trying to capture it on video, but she stops whenever I get my camera out. She also loves her big sister, one of her favorite things to do is to wake Anabelle up from afternoon nap. She follows Anabelle around a lot and the two have become much closer in the last few weeks. Anabelle requests to play with Charlotte often and they love to cuddle, rough house, tickle, hug, kiss, and roll all over each other. Other favorites are reading books together, building tents, and dancing. We are in full on toddler mode and while it is tiring to chase Charlotte around, it is a lot of fun to see more and more of her personality come out. 

Cruising around on her "car".

Sometimes after I've retrieved Charlotte a billion times from crawling away up the stairs, while I am trying to do something like unload the dishwasher, we have to put up the baby gate. We both hate it! I hate putting it up, because it takes 5 minutes because of our crazy staircase, and she hates it because what baby likes to be kept out of a space. Here she is raging against the baby gate!!

Checking out the dishes under the sink.

We have a basket of Easter books and Charlotte loves to look at them. In this book there are lots of animals, here she is petting them and giving them kisses! So cute!

One of the pages has a fuzzy lamb, the fur didn't taste as good as Charlotte had hoped! 

Some bunny loves you!

Tickles

Green

I know there is snow on the ground, but signs of spring are popping up. This week I noticed all of the daffodils and irises are starting to peak out of the dirt. It's nice to see some green. I am starting to think of projects I want to complete for our yard this summer. I have recently spent some time (ok a lot of time) on Pinterest looking at mud kitchens. I think I am going to set one up for the girls to play with this summer. Nothing too elaborate; just go to the thrift store and get some old muffin tins, a colander, some spoons, bowls, and pans. And any other fun kitchen gadgets we see, and then set up a space where they can dig in the dirt, play with the mud and make mud pies. I also saw on Pinterest where you can set up a rain collection barrel with a spigot, so the kids can get their own water for the kitchen and you don't have to worry about them wasting water from the main hose. We'll have to look into setting that up, I think it would be great for watering plants too. I also would like to plant some herbs that the girls can have free reign to pick for their kitchen creations.

While all of these great ideas were swimming around in my head I saw this the other day in a mail flyer:

Last year I had been thinking about a playhouse for the yard, but all I ever saw were plastic ones and I don't really like the look of those. Also they fade and they get very warm in the sun. I really wanted a wooden one, but all of them seemed so expensive! This one is pretty reasonable, but still a good chunk of money. I thought of my brother Mike who is great at building things ( he made Anabelle a beautiful toybox). So I sent him a message and we decided we need to discuss it further. But I think it may turn into a big family project where we build our own playhouse! I would love for Anabelle and Charlotte to be a part of the building process. Not only because it's fun, but also to see how things are constructed and put together. So I need to start doing some research on what design we want and how much things will cost etc. But hopefully we'll have a playhouse this summer! Maybe a little something like this? What do you think Uncle Mikey? LOL!

Thomas the Train moves into Anabelle's closet.

Anabelle has become interested in Thomas the train lately. She watches the show, calls all of her stuffed animals the different trains and acts out different scenes from the shows. I thought she might like some Thomas clothing. They don't really make Thomas clothing for girls, and while I am not opposed to buying little boys shirts for Anabelle, I thought a skirt would be cute. So while I was at Walmart one day I went to their fabric department. I typically buy fabric for projects from JoAnn's, but every once in a while I find some cute fabric at Hobby Lobby or Walmart. The prices at Walmart are pretty good too- usually only $5 or $6 per yard. I came across this cute Thomas material and thought it would be perfect. I also found some cute Strawberry Shortcake material (another current Anabelle favorite) and thought that it would also make a cute skirt. The lady at the cutting counter asked what I was going to make and when I said "some skirts for my daughter." She kinda looked at me funny, to which I replied, "She likes Thomas the train and they don't make any girls Thomas clothes." She then said, "oh yeah, I guess you're right- cute idea!"  

I know they have to think about $$ and profits and who their target audience is when they make kids clothing, but it is kinda frustrating that when you take your little girl shopping for new underwear, her choices are princesses, Hello Kitty, Minnie Mouse, My Little Pony, and hearts/flowers. Then she sees the boys underwear- Thomas, Cars, and Mickey Mouse and wants those.  I am sure just like Anabelle loves Thomas there must be some little boys that love Hello Kitty. It would be nice to have some more choices. Thank goodness I am learning how to sew! 

Anabelle not wanting to model her new skirt.

OK Mommy, just one picture!

Hello old friend...

I am missing my blog lately. I used to enjoy taking pictures, writing, and taking time to tell stories about our days and the fun things we do. Sometimes child related, sometimes not. I got lazy with blogging when Facebook came around. It was much easier and quicker to post a blurb and get instant feedback from lots of friends and family. Once I switched to an iphone, it became even easier to post photos to Facebook. I now take way more pictures with my phone than my camera. Honestly I always have my phone nearby and it sometimes it even takes better pictures. My phone also has a handy button that you push and poof there they are all uploaded to FB. There is no fancy blog poof button. I have to put some work and time into uploading photos. So all of this lead to lots of FB photos being posted and nothing on my blog. My blog turned into something where I only post photos of big events and holidays (sometimes not even that!) And now I'm kinda getting sick of FB and miss writing and telling our fun day to day stories. So here is what we've been up to lately. We'll see if I can be better about keeping up with the blog. I guess it's like an old friend, it takes some effort and work to keep up communication :)

Anabelle in early March, wearing her favorite outfit lately, a swimsuit. Playing in the sink with soapy water and sponges, while it snowed about 5 inches that day!

Early morning art at the easel, drawing a caterpillar.

Charlotte likes to sit in her little rocking chair that she got for Christmas and rock away :)

"My future's so bright I gotta wear shades!"

Because of the snow, Tuesday dance was cancelled. Anabelle went to a different class on Saturday where she got to wear wings and fly!

We cleaned out Charlotte's closet and came across the baby carrier, Anabelle decided to carry around "Kayla" her baby elephant. 

Dress up time, I think somebody else may be ready for dance classes soon.

Charlotte loves to crawl around and get into little spaces, here she is under the dining room table.

My little baby had her last bottle...so happy to not have to wash them anymore, but at the same time sad that my baby is becoming not such a baby anymore. On to sippy cups and straws and whole milk!