Weekend

The Girls ~ minus Joey

Tonight Barry and I finally sat down and looked at each other and wondered where our weekend had gone . We have had a fablous weekend, but it went by all to quickly. Since Audrey was born, we’ve been pretty low key and staying close to home. This was the first weekend that we ran a ton of errands and went up to The Valley for a day trip. Kannon turned one and we went up to MV to help celebrate. It’d been a while since we’d seen many of our friends and it was fun to have everyone together. 

The theme of the party was baseball with an antique feel, I’m not on Pinterest, but it had a very Pintrest feeling to it. Joey’s house is filled with family photos, crafts and things that she has embellished, which I found to be very inspiring. I might take a ton of photos, but I fail to print with frequency and our walls are bare in some rooms….it’s kind of embarrasing. I am now determined to get some more images from our life hanging in our home. 

The invitation asked us to wear our favorite jersey and I searched high and low for some of Barry’s old baseball uniforms, but came up empty-handed. (Okay, I didn’t search, but it would have been fun to show up in something of his from his high school or college days. I also wish that I had a jersey for him that said #1 Dad.) Bahl seemed to be the ONLY person that actually followed through on wearing anything jersey or sports team related. He showed up in a Starter jacket from the year 1992. 

[Side note: When I was in 6th grade I had a boyfriend, William, that had a Starter jacket. At recess he’d take it off and drop it off on the ground by the bars. I’d pick it up and wear it for the duration of the recess and when the bell rang I’d drop it on the ground for him to pick  up to take back inside. We never, ever spoke at recess, let alone at school, but I’d wear his jacket during recess to prove that he indeed was my boyfriend. I broke up with him because he wanted to take me to the movies and I heard that he wanted to kiss me. Gross. ]

Cookie Monster

Bahl is one of those people that loves a good joke and might not admit it, but has a sentimental side. So as I ribbed him about the outdated jacket, he informed me that it was his grandpa’s, which I found somewhat touching. For a while the party felt somewhat segregated, with the men talking in one corner and the women in the other. It almost felt like middle school, except for the fact that we’re all married, kids were running wild between us, and our friendships are rock solid, unlike those teetering in middle school. Eventually the guys and girls melded together and we talked of Bahl and Allison’s upcoming wedding, the shared summer vacation plans, and why Barry doesn’t have a beard. 

Audrey & Grandpa M.

To say that we didn’t have ample opportunity to accompany Bahl in his jersey-wearing atire, would be a lie. We had a chance to stop by Greg and Linda’s before the party and Greg informed us that he had some old shirts that have Barry’s high school roster on it. I would have loved to rock that shirt, but I’m certain I would have looked like a round potato…umm, no thank you!

While we were visiting, it took Maggie about two shakes to get Linda to play Dollies with her. It is so fun to be an observer and watching Mags be creative with other people. The characters are almost always the same, but the story lines change. 

Maggie playing dollies with Nana

Barry’s dad has been working hard to restore Barry’s Nova and every time we go up there, there is a new, major change to the car. Both Barry and Greg love that car, so it is funny to hear them talk shop. I’m a total lame-brain when it comes to cars, at least when it comes to makes and models. Thanks to my dad, I do know how to do a few things here and there. 

Maggie headed outside with Barry and his dad to check out the latest improvements and it wasn’t long before I heard the rumble of a loud engine. About two minutes later Maggie came back inside and announced that the car was too loud. Pretty funny.  I’m betting she decided that she’d rather play Dollies than look at a car. 

[Side note: While we were all in the living room, Greg wandered into the room holding Audrey with a MASSIVE cookie propped on her tummy. I guess the cookie wasn’t all that massive, since she’s pretty tiny, but it looked massive. For the record, I’m pretty sure that was her first cookie….and if it wasn’t Brian that would ‘give’ it to her, it’d have to be Greggers.]

Maggie & Nana play magnet dollies

 Before we ran errands today, we went downtown Edmonds and walked around. Sadly, the weather was really nice yesterday, but we spent most of the day either driving or inside. I was a bit bummed to discover that today wasn’t nearly as nice,  but we still bundled up and headed out. Audrey is a rock star as long as she’s being held and slept though the entire walk. In fact, I’m not sure she even noticed she was put into a snowsuit…

We also went shopping so I could get some new tennis shoes since the ones that I have are practically as old as Bahl’s Starter jacket. While we were there, Barry oogled over the whiffle ball bats. I tell you, that man loves gear of all shapes and sizes. If there was a magazine simply titled “GEAR” and it was only gear reviews, he’d subscribe. Scratch that. He’d probably want to be the Editor of the entire magizine. There is something disgustingly cute, however, about my husband carrying an infant, looking at whiffle ball bats and talking to an almost 3 year old about how to swing a bat. 

Not to worry, I got my new shoes and the whiffle bat was left at the store….only because he needs to do some ‘research’ to determine which is best. I’m hoping that we can get together a group of people once the weather changes and play a game or two of Whiffle Ball, with the best bat, of course. 

I only hope when it does happen that Bahl wears his jacket. 

A Little Bit Funny

Bed Head

She often requests ‘pribacy’ when going potty.

And we always give it to her with the idea that we’ll be granted the same respect. 

We have one rule: DO NOT PLAY WITH THE TOILET PAPER. 

We have this rule for a reason. See?

The other day when I walked into the bathroom after the shouts of, “I’m all done” were heard, I saw our little girl with her eyes covered hoping I couldn’t see her. 

Or the entire roll of t.p. unraveled next to her. 

Before I said a single word, or let the laugh escape from my mouth, I snapped a photo. 

Because having a photo of yourself on the potty on the internet just screams ‘pribacy’.

 

 

Twin Jammies & Projects

I didn’t think that I’d be the type of mom that dresses my girls in similar out fits. Turns out I’m wrong. I am that mom. It’s a little bit embarrassing, but I think they’re so dang cute in their ‘twin jammies’ and at this point Maggie, the only one of the two that can voice her opinion, absolutely loves matching her sister. I’m not inclined to make this a habit, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be doing this again. Not having a sister to be matchy-matchy with, I can’t totally wrap my brain around the complaints that I might field down the road. So it goes, this whole parenting gig is one twist after another. 

We’ve had a few recent playdates with some of my A-Town girls and their kiddos. Thomas and Maggie are both in the stage of loving to make little animals and figurines talk, and thankfully they’ll do it together. Hearing them have conversations with their little toys is very entertaining. Barry and I try to play ‘Dollies’ as much as we can, but it can get really repetitive. The other evening I went for a walk and when I left Barry and Mags were playing a very involved game of  Dollies and by the time I got back from my walk, which seemed like a long time, they were still playing, except Barry was lying flat on his back with his eyes closed holding his dolly up on the coffee table half-heartidly. So, when Thomas comes over and is just as excited to play Dollies (although he might call it something else), Maggie is very into it. 

Both Thomas and Maggie also aren’t too interested in the babies when they’ve got each other to play with. Every so often they’ll come check to see what the two little ones are up to, but for the most part Thomas and Mags are happy as little clams to play together. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that we’d meet up for a playdate and they wouldn’t even ‘play’ together. Now they play so much and so hard that by the time it’s time to go, there is often tears and sadness. 

Sister Switch
Audrey telling Mira about the embarrassing twin jammies. What Audrey doesn’t know is that Mira has the SAME pair! TRIPLETS!!
This is what a puppet show given by 2 year olds looks like.

Maggie gave up naps long ago and that means that we often have an early bed time around here and try to keep our afternoons fairly relaxed and stress free. Very rarely does she take a nap, but yesterday she was yawning so much mid-morning that I took an opportunity, once Audrey was asleep, to read some books in bed. Maggie will jump at a chance to read a book and she wasn’t convinced the bed was the place to do it, but eventually bought into the idea. After reading a few chapters out of her Nancy Clancy book, we turned the light off and snuggled. I was informed, many times, that she did not want to ‘lax. Miracle of all miracles she fell asleep. 

And I had exactly three minutes of a quiet house all to myself before Audrey decided to wake up. 

It was a restful three minutes. I stared at the wall and wondered what I should do with my free arms and free time. Audrey answered for me. Thanks, Chica. 

We still have quiet time in the afternoons, but I need to be more intentional about it. I feel like so much of my day is telling Maggie to wait…wait for me to finish feeding, changing, bouncing, dressing her baby sister, or feeding and changing myself. By the time Audrey is asleep and I have a few minutes, I work hard to try to fully engage with Maggie. We often have a ‘project’ going on that we like to work on together. Last week we made a month-by-month mini scrapbook for Audrey and Maggie was my Sticker Girl and Cutter. Yesterday we made a St. Patrick’s Day sign from some of her old paintings and glitter. Mags loves projects and to be able to tap into that creative side with her is really fulfilling. It also makes me feel a bit better when I’m asking her to wait yet again. If we’ve got a special project set up, we an talk about the next steps that we’ll do on it while she waits for me to finish. 

Working hard on making her own stickers.

And when she can’t wait any longer, she’ll start in on her own project. Sometimes this is good….sometimes it isn’t. Either way, having a few projects to work on keeps the grumps away. If you’ve ever experienced a grumpy almost 3 year old on any given day…..you’d move heaven and earth to have a project as a distraction. 

Counting Project