outdoors

summer heat is HERE.  today is supposed to be the beast of the heat wave...great.
earlier this week it wasn't so bad. 
we played outside in the evening.
anne was 'posing' on her bike.

this cracks me up....looks at kate.  poor thing.  something wasn't fair!  (my least favorite word for the summer!)

not quite as planned.

last weekend adam did some last minute grocery shopping before the father's day dinner with the family.
he ventured to global food store near our house.  he took both girls.
they needed to get chop sticks.  that's all.
he came home with chop sticks and then some.
they also brought home a papaya.
i'm not much into tropical fruit.  unless i'm in the tropics.
none the less...we tried it this week.
adam is so good about exposing the kids to unusual things.  he has always been that way in the grocery store.  he would bring home an 'ugly fruit' randomly and say LOOK SARA!  weird. i know...but who knows if you like it unless you try it right?
it was quite interesting to look at.

the seed

it has lots of seeds...

 i think i muttered something about the seeds looking like frog eggs...note to self.  don't do that again.

kate was the first to taste.
i smelled it and thought...nope.  no one is going to consume that...
here is the chronological shots of kate trying the papaya

approaching the mouth...she says mmmm.....

 

i don't fink i like this...she shouts.

gahhhhhh....or some unusual sound that kids make.

obviously she isn't quite in love with the idea....

hates it.

popsicle to the rescue.

and vanilla ice cream with magic shell.  

hysterical.  i wish i could say that i staged the whole picture taking episode.  but i didn't.
i don't think they could replay  those feelings.
what a riot.
we are an anti papaya household.
~chat soon!

father's day. our way.

so this past saturday we had the 'family father's day' get together.
it seems to work well that way.  everyone gets together, and then is able to be with their immediate family or whomever the following day.
it works.  i think. 
no one has said otherwise, so i will take that as a good sign.
new recipes were tried and were good.
it was a great time.
i took not one picture.
actually i took one. but it was of adam's elbow while he was attempting to flambe bananas for banana splits.  (it may seem selfish to make him to that sort of thing on his weekend, BUT when the recipe says now avert face from flame, i feel it is much safer to ask the pro's.)
ha.
anyway, on father's day we had a very low key day.
we went to church.
we went swimming.
we all napped, in different areas of the house.
strange but true. 
i put the girls down for a nap and fell asleep.
i then moved to our bed.
adam was watching a western movie, so he went to the family room.  and fell asleep.
we were quite the crowd.
a steak dinner was made and we called it a day by watching the secretariat. (by the way...a must see if you haven't seen it.  lordy. i loved it. we all did.  even adam.)
i did take two pictures on father's day.
neither of which are anything to talk about, but it caught some sweet moments.

proof that anti-napper adam, took a nap.  on father's day of all days.  most appropriate.

they were chatting...about anne going to work with adam.  he said she said, 'don't worry daddy, i will pack my lunch so i can stay all day.'  what a girl.  what a dad.  love this picture.

 ~chat soon!

i really like this.

i have a dear, old (as in length of friendship, not age) that i met in highschool.
i have not seen him since i was in college.
we met at diabetic camp when i was 15.
what a trip.
we both married and have children and he lives in texas.
we still communicate via facebook and an occasional phone call or text.
today he posted this video on his status for today, as well as a blurb about needing to keep this in mind more often.
i looked at it and have been thinking of it all day long.
i don't usually share music, or things like this, but i think that everyone may get a little something out of the words.
listen up.
it's good.

~chat soon.

not our day.

today is monday.
and it has been a monday.
this morning started off with anne sassing me and kate whining.
i had already snapped at them by 8:15am.
it was going to be a nice day i thought.
we headed to swim lessons bright and early....
then we decided we would make clay...
easy enough.
i only had 1/2 as much salt as i needed.  back in the car we went.
for lunch i ate a totinos pizza (a whole one, by myself) and i served the girls pizza rolls.  i think i have only done that once in their lives.  there isn't anything wrong with them, i just usually try to *make* them something.
by 2:00pm, i convinced kate she had to take a nap because the monsters that lay in the crack of  the couch would know and would know if she didn't sleep (gasp.)
she quickly fell asleep.
i was desperate.
adam came home from work to pick anne up for softball practice.  he wasn't in the best of moods...he closed the door kind of hard and woke kate up.
 she started whining. he shrugged. 
i plugged  bot girls on the computer and poured a big glass of tea.
somedays are just like this.
looking forward to tuesday.
i'm especially looking forward to tuesday because it's trash day.  our fathers day family dinner consisted of several dishes, two of them including shrimp and pork.  throw in a side dish of 90 degree plus temps and our garage smells like....well, you can imagine.  which is polluting our laundry room and kitchen.
it's super blissful in our house right now. 

proof of my super horrid mothering ability today...

the pool.

we joined a different pool this summer.
i was a little nervous that it would be 'too much'.
it has been perfect. 
the kid area is exactly that.  a kid area.  it's not a baby pool.  so both girls, are happy and safe.
and that makes me happy.
we aren't there today...but most days we can be found in the afternoons at the pool.

it was really bright so none of these pictures are just super but they show the fun and excitement that the chicks have about the pool! :)

~chat soon!

proving a point

So lately i have been repeatedly telling you about the differences between anne clara and kate.
I captured it with my camera recently.

this is anne:

she is reading my book on the deck under the umbrella.  she set the whole thing up.  look closely at her attire

a little closer look.

  this is kate:

if you look close kate has her "headphones' on...she is reading.  she is not sitting lady like.  she is a hoot!

   

 Just wanted to prove that there really is a vast difference.
But on the same hand, they are the MOST loving little girls.  they are both crazy sensitive, comforting, creative, the list goes on and on....and most importantly, they usually don't strike against me at the same time. HA!  there is almost always a good girl, bad girl scheme....it's hilarious. 

There you have it!
~chat soon!

Kate meets the Muppets

kate on any random day entertaining herself...here she had gotten into anne's makeup kit

This is the strangest thing.
Last night we had dinner on the deck.
The girls went in to watch a movie that we had gotten from the Red Box.
It was the Muppets.
They were very excited.
Adam and I had stuff about the business to go over so we stayed on the deck for a while.
Kate came to the door and said 'I need you to sit with me'.
I told her she would be okay and walked her back into the family room.
A few minutes later Adam and I cleaned up the deck and went inside.
He tells me that Kate has a tummy ache, and she wanted me to sit with her.
Okay, I walk in pick her up and she proceeds to spew all over the recliner.
Nice.
Anne goes into freak out mode running around like a chicken with her head cut off...
Adam just mutters 'oh boy'.
I rush the puker into the bathroom.
Nothing more.
She tells me that she was scared of the movie and was worried that the Muppets were going to POPRIGHTINTOURHOUSE!
Nice.
So there you have it.
Mental note-don't assume just because 99.9% of all children like the characters does not mean Kate will.
Don't also assume that she may not just BARF because she got scared.
What a crack up!

The girls know this song almost word for word.
On any given day, they will be walking along and in true off-key 4 and 7 year old voices blare....
ITS A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE! 

Saturday, we woke up and Adam declared it a FAMILY FUN DAY.
We got ready and headed off for a pancake breakfast and then to soulard market. (my favorite place ever)
Here are some pictures from our day....

we brought one home...drank all the milk and ate the fruit. yummo!

oh how i love a tomato!

look at all that goodness!

which do you like?

always wanted to be the one that picked the one in the middle that started the decent!  i refrained! :)

the white sign made me chuckle...not sure why. just did.

our kate

kate and anne are so different.
like night and day.
looks, temperament, sense of humor, focus...everything.  totally different.
she picks up after herself, remembers where she puts stuff...just different. totally. if i haven't said that already.
she is obsessed with stuff too.  for instance, this weekend, it's the goldfish.  goldie.  
here are a few pictures of her and her new bff goldie rainbow wilson fish...

she wanted goldie to listen to the music. not kidding...she put them on there herself!   you can't make this stuff up!

giving him a checkup.

she said she could hear his heart and it sounded good.

  

today kate was very close to my face.  she grabbed my cheeks and said:
you know when we go down in front at church?
thinking....um...oh yeah! communion!
well...that drink you guys drink...
me-yes!?
kate-'is it really BLOOD?!'
me-um, well, uh, WHERE IS YOUR GREAT GRANDMA?!
kate-well, i know it's SOMEBODIES blood...just not sure who.
me-where did you hear about this?
kate-i listen at church.
me-alrighty then.

new addition(s)

saturday we went to the store.
adam whispered...'i think we should get them their fish'
kate has been wanting a fish for a long time and anne is still tramatized from the time i flushed 'dorthy' down the toilet in front of her. (duh!)
so we went.  got our shopping finished and then headed to the pet aisle.
the girls flipped.
they dutifully picked out two fish and we got the stuff and went on our marry way.
we are pleased to announce:
Junior (anne's fish)

and goldie...(he started out being rainbow wilson. we laughed so hard over the randomness of kate and the name she chose for her fish.  apparently she got embarrassed and rethought it.  she has stuck with goldie.)

we woke up this morning and immediatly had to check on the fish.
i held my breath and prayed they would still be swimming.
they were.
anne said 'thank goodness...they lived!'
ha.
here are some more pictures of our new friends.

chat soon!