Baby Ben's bedroom

I have been looking for about a month for a changing table for Ben's room on Craig's list. I finally found the one I wanted, and it came with another dresser! (When I have seen it before on Craig's list people usually wanted to sell a crib with it, and I already have a crib.)

With the sun last week I gave the glider a light sand and a new coat of (spray) lacquer, so the nursery is pretty much ready. Now only 10 weeks of waiting for him to start using it.

Sarahisms

This week when I put Sarah on the changing table she was singing a little tune..."bum, bum, bum, bum, bu-bu-bum, bum, bum..." I couldn't quite recognize the tune, so I asked her what she was singing. I was informed, "I am not singing. I am bum bumming." Awesome. A new verb! Other words she is in love with right now: "Of course!" (as in, could you share with Libby, "of course!" when I am lucky.) "Absolutely!" (sometimes in the affirmative, sometimes with a NOT attached to it.) She is also obsessed with getting to the van first so that she can get into Libby's car seat. This is making for parking lot panic for me. I can't run fast enough to keep up with her. My big body can't carry her all the way to the car everywhere we go. So I am gripping her hand tightly until we get close enough that I feel it will be safe...thank goodness I can open the doors remotely so she can jump in. Luckily if I let Libby choose what song we are going to listen to, she is USUALLY okay with letting Sarah ride in her seat.

Walkin' on Sunshine!

Well, for a couple of days at least we actually saw the sunshine. I heard a news report that when we hit 60 degrees last week it was the warmest we had been in Seattle in something like 140 days. Wow. So I wasn't just imagining that it had seemed like an awfully long, cold winter. So, we took advantage with an impromptu outing to the beach with the Fillmores. (I mention the impromtu part to excuse Libby and Sarah's choices in clothing and horrific hair...we were playing in the backyard when Emmi called.) Notice that Sarah's shoes are off and pants are soaked. In order to throw rocks into the water, she had to walk out to the water. But the waves would keep coming and get her feet wet. She wasn't sure about the whole thing. The playground behind them is perfect for them though. They could do everything themselves (slides, climbing parts) and I could just sit back and watch. My kind of playground.

Happy St. Patty's Day

A little belated, but this is a great shot, don't you think?

SPRING!

It finally is starting to feel like spring. Hooray! We had sunshine yesterday so after I taught water aerobics and bodystep I attacked the flower beds. My body was pretty worn out after 2 hours of bending and weeding, but my it was so amazing to be outside in the sunshine! The girls enjoyed every minute of running around in the yard.

Hopefully very soon I will have pictures of blooming daffodils, tulips and hyacinths. I planted 50 bulbs in the fall and they are coming up like crazy!

(p.s. for those who know our cousin Emma, doesn't this pic of Sarah look like Emma?)

Einstein Season

I decided that the girls could use some cheer outfits for the Einstein season as well, so I bought some shirts at Michaels and chopped and sewed. The E and the tiger paws are an iron-on I made. The middle school season is shorter (thankfully) and the matches are earlier in the day. Derek told me yesterday there are only 5 more practices and 4 matches to go. That is something to cheer about! The middle school matches have been quite intense this year. Almost every one has been decided by a match. Some have been seriously heated! I have spent lots of time on the edge of my seat. I can't wait for a rest!

Grammy Geneva's Game

The other night we had a fun surprise when Grammy Geneva dropped in for a visit. When she was leaving she introduced the girls to a new game. "I love you more than...." Then you fill in the blank. The girls had a fun time playing it with her. Yesterday Derek and I heard them playing it together. I heard one say, "I love you more than milk!" The other said, "I love you more than apple juice!" Then, my favorite. Libby said, "I love you more than SARDINE POOP!" Boy, I sure hope so!
(If you are wondering why sardines were on her mind, Derek was reading them some Shel Silverstein Poems and her favorite is Captain Hook http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/captain-hook/.)

Project of the Week

This week I bought a glider on Craig's list. It needed new cushions, so I made some. It was a fun project. I did have to pull out the stitch ripper a few times but I really enjoyed having a project I could do sitting down. They aren't perfect, so don't look too close, but I think they will be comfy in little Ben's room. Libby really had fun posing for the pictures. (There are two pictures, but in the 2nd you can see that the pillow has 2 sides--GO DAWGS!)

Opposites?

Libby and Sarah crack me up. They are so alike and so different.
Just look at them. Libby, curly. Sarah, straight. Libby, skinny. Sarah, a little more meat (and the same size height as Libby yet 14 months younger).
But I am amazed at how different they are about other things too. Libby has always been more of a mover, Sarah more of an analyzer. Sarah has figured out how to hit the start button on the computer, open the iPhone, and even start opening apps and texting. Yikes. Libby, not at all interested (except to tell me to stop texting and pay attention to her).
Yet they go together so well. They love the same movies (although not always at the same time). They play well (most of the time)--especially because Sarah doesn't mind being the prince, or the bad guy, so that Libby can be the princess.
When eating dinner yesterday I figured out another way that they go together well.
They both enjoy boiled eggs.
Sarah eats only the whites.
Libby eats only the yolks. Hilarious.

"I love you Libby"

Her reply today: "I don't like you much mommy. You smell like cheese."

Speaking of Lessons...

I was pretty tired today coming home from the gym. Lately I have been buying a snack from the juice bar before I shower and pick up the girls, but today I decided that maybe I didn't really need it and that the snacks are contributing to my excessive weight gain. Well, I think I did need it because I was dragging my wagon! So on the way home, I got grumpy with a car at a 4 way stop that did not behave appropriately.
From the back seat I hear Libby chime in. "Mommy, you need to speak kindly to the other cars! If you do not speak kindly to the other cars I am going to come up there and slap you in the face." (Which I have never said to her, btw.) The lecture went on to include a summary of how I should talk to other cars, "Say excuse me car...." and to remind me that I should "speak kindly to all people."
Hilarious. Thank you Libby for a little lesson in driving "kindly".

Change is Hard

I taught school for a district with an amazing contractual provision for mommies. I got 2 years of childcare leave for each child, that stacked on top of each other. So with the addition of our third child, I could have been on leave for another 3 years. BUT, my certification expires in June. So I looked at my options. A very expensive, very time consuming pro-certification that would buy me 5 more years, or give up my contract. I had until March 15th to write the official email giving up my contract--and I had officially decided a couple of months ago what I would do. But writing the email giving up my contract was still one of the hardest emails I have ever written. I LOVED teaching. But I LOVE my kids and I want to be with them now. What will be will be. Some other teacher who is in the right phase of life needs the .6 continuing FTE that I was sitting on, selfishly wanting to hold on to that part of my life that I LOVED so much. I wrote the email and went to my room and sobbed for about 20 minutes. I shed another tear or two during yoga and I am crying now. Man, I loved teaching. But I am teaching really important lessons right now to the most important students I will ever have. I know that it was the right thing to do, but sometimes the doing the right thing is still painful.