pop quiz

Why don't I blog as much as I used to?
a. my kids are less cute than they used to be
b. my computer is dying a slow and obnoxious death
c. other hobbies
d. I have nothing interesting to say

well, it's certainly not answer a.  My children are wonderful and amazing and adorable.  If anything, they keep me more and more busy.  We dash around to playdates, school and various activities.  It's warming up outside enough that we are fast becoming regular fixtures at the park again.  And then, we simply just spend a lot of time playing.  We all play together in the toy room full of imagination, cooking grand feasts, attending royal balls, fighting bad guys and teaching school. And they're just so precious I can't tear myself away to go do something productive.  like blog.  or wash dishes.

Answer b, yes.  the battery on my supposedly portable laptop lasts exactly 2 minutes and 27 seconds lately.  No really.  And once it dies, it takes over 8 minutes to fully reboot and become useable again.  So I keep it docked in the office downstairs.  Still useful, but not so portable.  (and every time it makes me cranky and I threaten to replace it, it magically behaves again... for a few days.  here's hoping.)

Answer c, a little.  I've been reading more.  Mostly fiction because I'm a silly hopeless romantic addicted to a handful of writers.  My hobbies run in waves: sometimes reading, sewing, baking, scrapbooking, etc. But I regularly joke that moms only have time for one hobby at a time anyway.  So lately, it was reading.  I sense a wave of scrapbooking soon.  Also just finished a parenting class offered within the community.  It was a great class, with plenty to read and think about. 

Answer d, a little as well.  The girls' antics are always adorable and I hope I can remember even half of what they do and say each day.  But not a whole lot of exciting news to report.  Life has recently thrown a difficult curveball, but not something I want to talk about yet.


But since it has been really almost a month...

We've been getting some work done on the house.  We finally reported the long-ignored "to do" list to some higher-ups and got the attention we needed to have our builder finish some items that have been waiting six months.  Once we got talking to the right people, it's been a great experience and we've had several teams in to get work done.

L attended her first birthday party on her own.  It was the first time it wasn't a cousin or family friend where the whole family was invited.  It's her best friend at school, someone that I have enjoyed having over for several playdates. I'm glad to see she's making friends that I feel are a good influence and am happy that she's happy.  So she attended her friend's birthday party and I'm not sure why that seems of significance to me, but it does seem like some kind of milestone of independence.

L sang in a cute school program again, a friendship night.  The auditorium was packed and chaotic so I didn't hear much but she was adorable.  

We also attended a fundraising night at the local burger place to help raise money for new playground equipment at the school.  It was good to see her teachers and we even chatted with her principal for awhile.  I was impressed with how well she knew L, with as busy as she must be.  L was estatic to be part of the fundraiser, begging to go for several days before.

A and her faithful friend Yellow have said their goodbyes.  With countless holes and worn, threadbare spots, we gave it one last washing, then folded it gently and placed it in my cedar chest.  This was only possibly of course because she was recently presented with "New Yellow", a shockingly similar print, with a matching border and a little larger in size that Grammy made special for her.  She declared it perfect and has been happily attached since.

L took Grandma as her special guest to "moms and muffins" at school (husband was out of town so I couldn't leave the little girls) and the following week, took her Daddy to "Dads and donuts".  Both times, she came home bursting with how fun it was.

Valentine's Day was fantastic.  The girls loved preparing Valentines for their classmates, carefully copying names from a list and attaching tubes of bubbles.  They each had a great school party and brought home a ton of loot.  Husband took me out for a wonderful date night for dinner theater.  One of our good (guy) friends was playing an ugly stepsister and a very unique and hilarious telling of Cinderella.  And then the following night, I spent the day with the girls doing Valentine theme crafts and had special Valentine soda floats and other treats.

We visited the ice castles again, this time during the day and every bit as beautiful as before.  The girls loved it, regularly singing Let it Go and ecstatically saw that Anna and Elsa were available for pictures.  Unfortunately it was a very long line so we discouraged them.  Eventually L concluded they were just pretend princesses anyway.  She wants to wait to meet the real Elsa and Anna at DisneyWorld.

Last weekend, we met cousins for dinner at Denny's and then a playdate at the nicklecade.  The girls were in heaven.  They loved playing with cousins and went crazy at the arcade.  The adults didn't get much time to visit but it was still good to see everyone.

And as for this week,  we have cousins from husband's side of the family in town to play.  Fun things to come!

nicknames

for reasons completely unknown to anyone, A has been assigning nicknames.

my car is Lucy Blue.
husband's truck is Sausage.
Grammy's car is Glinda.
her bed's name is Lola.
her pillow is named Fluffia.
the dinner table is Genovia.
her red crayon is Magillacuddy.


added a months later:
Glinda was sold.  it took the girls about 3 minutes to name Grammy's new car.  Glinda was gold.  The new car is white.  And since Papa's truck is tan, the two vehicles are now named Graham Cracker and Marshmallow.