Oy

The girls are outside riding bikes with friends right now. I just went out to talk to them and this is what I saw:

Just about gave me a heart attack. When did she start doing this??! I see these shorts have gotten too short. We're off to buy the little acrobat some long pants...

Green Beans!

The garden is full of green beans, some of which we ate on Sunday. I love this time of year when the girls get to literally reap the fruits of their labor from the seeds they planted in the spring. V picked the beans and H snapped them.

Well, she snapped some and ate some. It seems wrong to tell her to stop eating her vegetables.

V made picking beans fun by finding beans in the shape of letters and making words. She was particularly proud of these letters and took a bunch of pictures including this one:

She would not let us eat the Jesus beans so we considered putting them on ebay. Okay, maybe not such a good idea. Instead we just thanked Jesus for providing our daily bread, especially the Jesus beans.

Swim Lessons (Now that summer's almost over.)

For the past week and all of next week, V & H are in swim lessons. H loves it and happily puts her swim suit on every morning when she gets up. Actually she calls it Hawaii because of the Hawaiian print and says "I'm gonna go put on Hawaii!"

She moved up a level on Friday and is oh so happy about it. For some reason she was sent back to level one and has been asking when she was going back to her class (level 2). Now everything is right in the world again. When they move up a level, they get out of the pool to ring the bell. This guy announces to everyone their name and what level they're moving up to and we all cheer. It's fun.
V is in level four and is having to work hard to learn the strokes. It's not as much of a playtime as levels 1, 2 and 3 were and most of the time she's the only one in her "class" so she swims the whole time. Therefore, there were a few days that she was not so happy about going to the pool. We had many a discussion about not giving up when it gets hard and sticking with it. By the end of the week she had improved and was feeling more comfortable with what she had to do. She is now excited to go back on Monday. The $30 bucks for swim lessons also went toward a little character building. Well worth it.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Do the girls look comfortable and spoiled or what?! It's because Grandma & Grandpa's very kind and generous friends let us all watch a Volcanoes baseball game from their box seats tonight. 

A foul ball landed near us and V retrieved it so they got to take a baseball home! (Not to mention Crater bobble-head dolls, Crater wavers, and bellies full of hot dogs and warm chocolate chip cookies thanks to our generous hosts.)

V went out onto the field to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game with Crater during the 7th inning. H was not interested. No way, no how.

Then Crater came up to the box to say hi to the girls and autograph the ball! 

What a fun way to watch a game! We'll have to go back soon and sit in the regular seats before they get too used to this so they can appreciate it even more! 

Crafts for Grandma

The girls worked very hard on this clay pedestal dish for Grandma's birthday. It was the first time we've used Fimo Clay and actually baked it. H was a bit of a perfectionist and went through about 10 hearts until she came up with one she was happy with for the top. She is very serious when she is working. Can't wait to see how this plays out in Kindergarten this year...

Happy Day

Almost every day for the past year, H asks "Is it almost my birthday?" It was so fun to finally say "Today is the day!!" She had a happy day. We went OUT to lunch with Nana and had our tradition of a family birthday dinner by candle light. The birthday kid chooses what we're having for dinner and she chose macaroni and cheese. So, to make it special, Michael came home early and whipped up a fancy version–in the dutch oven of course. I don't know which she liked best though, the cake or eating cake on a cheetah place mat from Nana.

This was my favorite part, however:

This blur is H leaping out of her seat and hugging her sister very tightly and not letting go. V had carefully picked out just the right stuffed cheetah to give her today and was so excited for her to receive it. When H opened it she was thrilled–hugging her new pet. But then she realized it was from her sister and leapt out of her seat hugging and hugging and hugging V. 

There are few greater things than seeing your children love each other.

Anyone Have That Number?

H coughed this morning (just waking up, she's not sick) and asked me to call the cougher department. Sounds logical to me!

Cheetah Morning

This was H waking up this morning. Cheetah ears work any time of day, don't you think?

Good Company

This is what we found when we went in to check on V this evening:

We were making sure she was still covered up - didn't expect her to be EXTRA covered up. After being tucked in she got out of bed and built this wall of animals around head.

**Update** This morning she explained that she found Geraldine (the stuffed basset hound on her chest) and she brought all the animals out to celebrate. They were having a party!

H Has Been Here

This is how you can tell that H has been in the room:

Something, usually animals, are perfectly lined up. That or they come to life when we're not looking and I caught them contra dancing.

Tea for Two

On Saturday V and I had a mother daughter date. We went to a nearby tea parlor and had tea and lavender scones. She wore these crocheted gloves that her gigi gave her of course. So girly, and we had a great time. V loves tea, she's the only kid I know that takes tea to school to drink during the day instead of water bottles or Capri Sun. It was funny, she seemed really comfortable there and she also reminded me several times to straighten my posture. She wants to go back and do it again soon – must have more to teach her ol' mom.

Domo Arigato

The funny thing about this picture is what you can't hear. V's mp3 player is loaded with mostly christian pop music and Winnie the Pooh stories. But there is one song that is also on it that she plays over and over and over that is in neither of those categories. All I can say is domo arigato Mr. Roboto. 

Breakfast for Dinner

Last night we had one of the girls' favorite dinners–pancakes. They love pancakes for dinner but I don't know if it's because they get to help mix the batter, because pancakes at our house come in the shape of stars, hearts, initials, etc., or because breakfast for dinner is just good. V was hungry and asked for 100 love cakes. She knows this means she will get four pancakes: in the shapes of a 1, two zeros, and a heart. H asked for a star, a heart, a cross, and a circle with an egg cooked in the middle. 

Thank You Nana!

The girls made their usual high pitched squeaky happy noise when they received their packages of goodies. V is obviously pointing to her new hat and shoelaces. We don't know what H is doing. When I asked her she said "Maybe I was doing kung-fu." 

How to Make a Sprinkler Even More Fun

Tennis Lessons

Today was the last day of the girls' tennis lessons. They took a summer class through the city and the high school age teachers did a great job. The girls learned quite a bit and they made it really fun for them. 

Case in point, this is V dodging a water balloon that was served to her by surprise instead of a tennis ball. (Yes, that white splash on the ground behind her is water.)

Cheerios

H really, really, really likes Honey Nut Cheerios. Honey Nut Cheerios is probably on her top five list of favorite things, right under cheetah cats and all things cheetah. She would eat them for every meal if we let her. 

PS - I just noticed how she is sitting. This is exactly the same posture her Uncle E ate in when he was a kid. Hunkered over and one arm wrapped around the bowl. Protecting her precious Honey Nut Cheerios. Like a cheetah.

Newest Member of the "I Can Tie" Club

Make a loop. Wrap around. Push through. Tighten and celebrate!

A Trip to the Opthamologist

To preface, V really wants glasses. When she missed some of the letters on her pediatricians eye exam, she was super excited that this was actually a possibility. Her opthamology appointment was today and with great joy she sat in the chair and went through the tests. She didn't even complain about the eye drops to dilate her eyes - she knew glasses were coming!

Turns out she's a tiny bit near sighted but not enough to warrant glasses yet - probably in another couple of years. She came home with flimsy little plastic sunglasses to protect her dilated eyes. Not quite what she was hoping for...

Gatorade Mustache

Note to self: red Gatorade stains kids' faces and not even playing in an HOUR AND A HALF long bath will wash it off. Add straws to grocery list.