Those funny girls

The other morning, Kennedy was helping get Macy ready to go. She had picked out a dress with Minnie Mouse, but Macy was insisting on wearing the princesses. Kennedy patiently explained that she needed to wear something else during the day and she can't wear the princesses all the time. Macy said, "Yes, yes, yes! I MUST wear them!"

Kennedy's dream of becoming an Irish dancer was short lived. She recently told me that now she just wants to be a mom. I tried to tell her that being a mom is the best job in the world, but that moms can do lots of other things, too. I often wish that being a mom was my full time job. But, I'm happy that I have a job I enjoy. The income I earn gives us the ability to provide wonderful opportunities for the girls. I hope both Kennedy and Macy are mothers someday - it's the most amazing experience! I can't think of a job out there that's more important than being a parent. I also hope that they pursue other dreams and interests, whether as a paid profession or on a volunteer basis. After all, wouldn't it be exciting to have an Irish dancer or a chef as a mom! Macy's interests at the moment are pointing to a career as a princess or a hair dresser - "Mama, where's the brush?" is usually the first thing she says to me when I pick her up after work. All she wants to do is brush my hair and make me "look so pretty."

Tangled has replaced Toy Story 3 as Macy's favorite movie. Every day she now asks, or demands depending on her mood, "Yes, let's watch 'Puntzel!" And instead of repeating Jessie's "Yodel-lay-he-hooooo!" we now hear Macy saying, "Puntzel, let down your haaa-iiir!"

I got some "new" pyjamas out of the box of Eliza's hand-me-downs for Kennedy over the weekend. She was really excited about how cute they all are. After putting them on, she came running in to my bedroom shouting, "Mom! There's a problem with these jammies!" What is it? "Don't worry, it's a good problem. They are too soft!"

Bowling

Friday night we took the girls bowling. I got to go bowling at work the week before with the Health Sciences Development Office, so I suggested it as a family activity. (Paul and I do research for Health Sciences, so we were invited to their staff party - we were awesome bowlers, taking #2 (Paul) and #3 (me with 151) in the tourney.)

Kennedy tried both the ball ramp and the chuck-it-down-the-lane methods, and she was having a great time until all she could think about was getting something to eat.

Macy had to take her shoes off when she saw us changing into bowling shoes, so she just ran around in her socks and princesses.

Kennedy was really nice and let Mace have some turns pushing the ball, which she seemed to appreciate. Macy also loved singing and dancing around in the open lane space. I think we were quite the sight. Sadly, I didn't bowl quite as well, but it was a fun night out.

Kennedy the weed

Last Thursday Kennedy's school put on a Spring performance and art showcase. The theme had something to do with growing.

The Purple Class did a cute song:

Planting seeds, one-by-one

Hope for rain, hope for sun

Our work is never done, no, our work is never done...

There was Kennedy, a weed, right in front singing along and remembering all the hand actions and dance steps. She was great, and I think her class had the best song by far. I asked her how she got to be a weed, and apparently it was her choice - she picked this over the flowers, birds and farmers.

Grammie, Pamp, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Brent all came to see her perform. It was fun to see the kids up on stage in their costumes, especially after all the hard work they'd put in to make this a success. Macy was slightly interested in the show, but she was having a better time running around the gym.

On our way home we stopped for ice cream to celebrate. Now if we could only have some nice Spring weather and get outside to work on our garden.

No foolin'

April Fools Day isn't a big holiday in our family. Pamp tried to tell Kennedy that the zoo was closed because the construction workers needed everyone to stay out for the day and the animals also wanted a break. She fell for it - I'm sure it sounds logical enough to a four-year-old. They did go to the zoo after all, and ran into Aunt McKenzie there!

Jake and I went out to dinner with the parents from the Purple Class and Kennedy and Macy got to have a fun evening at Paul and Sara's. How lucky are we that my boss (who also happens to be one of our very good friends) was willing to babysit!? The girls had dinner, searched for eggs hidden around the house, made bead necklaces and colored. They had a great night! As we visited with Paul and Sara when we picked them up, Kennedy fell asleep in Sara's lap, and Macy fell asleep in mine.

Saturday we didn't change out of our pj's all day, but we weren't taking it easy by any means. Since Macy can now climb out of her crib, it was about time to take it down. I had the brilliant idea to move the mattresses from our full bed in the guest room upstairs for the girls to share and turn the guest room (which really never gets used) into a play room. We took down Kennedy's toddler bed and the crib - they're both big girls now! - and set up their new sleeping space. Mace was happy to see the crib go, and amazingly I didn't feel sad about it either. Maybe it helped that we had heard some exciting news the night before - Kari and Rainier are going to have a baby!

It took some creative storage solutions to find a place for the toddler bed and the full bed frame, but I'm happy with the way it's turning out. We moved the play kitchen and lots of toys out of the bedroom and found a space for them downstairs. I have some decorating ideas in mind for both rooms, but it will have to wait for another weekend.

I remember when we moved Kennedy out of her crib. That was pretty much the end of nap time for her, and the first couple of weeks she frequently got out of bed. Getting her to go to sleep was a battle. Well, we put Macy down for a nap in her new, big bed yesterday and she had a great nap. Bedtime wasn't a problem either.

Both girls stayed in bed, sound asleep, all night. I heard Macy knocking on the door to come out at 6:30 this morning. Nap time today was also a success. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they can keep this up.

Spring art project

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Brent are amazing gardeners. Last year Sue grew some birdhouse gourds, and then dried them over the winter. Sunday we had dinner at their house and the kids got to paint them! It was such a fun project. Macy was very focused on painting her gourd pink.

She recently discovered just how much fun painting is; we've made some art with Kennedy's new birthday supplies and even finger painted (both on paper and all over the kitchen table, hence the new orange stain by her seat.)

Jake painted his to look like a quetzal. Kennedy painted two, one for her in her favorite colors (purple and pink) and one for Grammie and Pamp.

Beth made an amazing rainbow layer cake for dessert. I ate way too much, but it was both delicious and beautiful.

Kennedy had a few bites of the purple layer, and then Macy and I finished hers off. Macy had also been sharing with Grandpa Brent.

On our way home, we stopped by the Weiler's to see Jeff before he heads back to Oregon to start a new quarter. He's been in town for spring break, and he and Jake went skiing one day last week. It had been awhile since Jake's last time on skis, but he reported everything went well and they had a great time. Jeff is ready to part with his long hair. Jake bet him $20 that he wouldn't get a mullet and keep it for a week. Looks like we're going to have to send him $20!

Run, Kennedy, run!

Last week Kennedy participated in her school's annual fun run. The kids raise money by running laps in the gym to support Native American grandmas and girls attending school in Africa. Kennedy was so excited, and said she'd been telling all her friends that they had to run really fast to beat the boys! She had some tough competition in the Purple Class, not only with the boys, but also with the five and six year-olds.

I stole away from work to watch, and I'm glad I could be there to support her. The kids did a warm up and stretched, and then they lined up for the whistle.

Kennedy started out strong, but eventually got distracted by the drinking fountain. She'd run a few laps, then go out in the hall for a drink. She'd come back in strong and run (on her toes) a few more times around.

Kennedy completed 16 laps in eight minutes. Not bad, but I think it was fewer than last year - that drinking fountain was just too tempting! Everyone finished with a cool down lap and then some stretching before heading back to the classroom.

We weren't on the ball with our fund-raising this year, but Kennedy is really excited to make thank you presents for the few people we asked.

Tenny's o-tay

Saturday night I went to a dance performance of Romeo and Juliet with my friend Sara. The dancing was great and we had a really fun time. The girls had a sleep over with Grammie and Pamp because Jake has been working crazy hours this week. He went in at 2am on Saturday and didn't get home until 6:30pm!

Sunday morning we went over to get them and then we drove out to Costco. As we were walking in, Kennedy wanted to run to get ahead of Jake and Macy. We caught up to them, but Jake tried to block Kennedy from getting past him. Well, with one of the blocks, he accidentally sent her bumping into the brick wall - and she hit it face first, right at the corner. I quickly scooped her up for a hug, but when I was able to get a look at her I saw that she'd cut herself right above her left eye. We went back to the car to get the blood cleaned off and to figure out what to do. The cut looked fairly deep, and we just couldn't tell if there was something stuck in it. Luckily, there's an emergency room right across the parking lot!

Our wait wasn't too bad, and we bought some pretzels from the vending machine and read princess books from the library (that I just happened to have in the car from the sleep over) to pass the time. Kennedy was very much against going to the hospital, but she was quite brave, under the circumstances. She's getting to be a pro at ER visits! After getting everything cleaned up, the doctor decided that glue would work just as well at a stitch. Kennedy was especially glad to hear this - after she got over her disbelief that glue would actually work for a cut. The doc was really nice, but he didn't build our confidence when he shared a story about almost gluing a kid's eye closed. He tried to say it wasn't that bad, but Jake told him, "We're glad you had this learning experience on some other kid."

Macy was very sweet and wanted to make sure that Kennedy was okay. "Tenny's o-tay," she'd say over and over, and "Tenny go bonk! Tenny bump her eye." And yes, this is how she dresses pretty much all the time. She gets quite a bit of attention in her necklaces and princesses.