Alaina

Alaina has been to see us twice this summer. It was so nice to have her here. We only got to see her once last year and we’ve really missed her. She will be a senior this fall and has blossomed into such a beautiful, sweet, caring young lady. Here are some pictures we took of her at Bridgeport. The little ones think the world of her and always want to hold her hand and tell her how much they love her.

One Month To Go

Sigh...only one more month to go until Doug is finished with this deployment. It seems to have gone on forever, maybe because it's his last in the Air Force. The girls and I normally make a paper chain and remove a link each day to count down. I finally feel ready to do that this time around. I was depressed at the idea of how long it would have been otherwise. Fortunately, we've gotten to speak with him almost everyday. He also set up a skype account for us before he left and so we get to see him on the webcam every few days. We don't always have the greatest connection so it's mainly just a quick chance for the girls to see him and for him to get a look at how they're growing. It's so exciting to think that we should never have to be away from him for this long ever again. I'm really looking forward to the changes that this fall and winter will bring. Until then, we'll just work on our paper chain and look forward to the daily calls. We're so incredibly proud of Doug. He's the best father and husband and we couldn't be luckier to call him ours. We miss you, honey.

Butterflies and Sunflowers

The girls got a cup of sunflower seeds at a friend's birthday party. We planted them and watched them as they began to sprout. Doug placed them in the garden and we checked on their progress everyday. Three stalks made it and they're now taller than I am! We just had our first bloom this week. We noticed how much fun the girls had watching the changes in the sunflower and so for Anna's birthday, Nana gave the girls a butterfly nursery. We sent off our card and waited patiently for the caterpillars to arrive, checking the front door everyday. I never imagined the mailman would place them in our neighborhood mailbox down the street and so I didn't bother to check for several days. When I finally discovered the box, plainly marked "Live Butterflies" stuffed in the mail, I was sure that the 5 caterpillars wouldn't survive. Miraculously, they did and we anxiously checked the nursery each morning to see what changes had taken place over night. Out of the five, four hatched into butterflies. We managed to release three of those four. Two flew away happily while the third hung around a bit longer as its wing was a bit gimpy. Regardless, it was a great experience for the girls and I must admit I quite enjoyed it too!

The Tea Party

Our friend Olivia and her mom Julie invited us over for a tea party following swim lessons. Anna was excited about the tea and Lauren couldn’t wait to see Ollie, Olivia’s cat. Anna and Olivia truly played the part, both dressing like princesses while Lauren stayed busy pursuing Ollie through the house. I could never stop her long enough to get a picture.

Our little fish

We signed the girls up for swim lessons for the first time this summer. There were two weeks of classes, 30 minute lessons, 4 times a week. They really learned a lot even though I wasn’t always so sure of that as the week progressed. I get such a kick out of how different their personalities are. They both love being in the water and would stay there all day if you would let them. At the end of each lesson, I thought how handy it would be to have some type of harmless tranquilizer dart to make extracting them from the pool an easier process. Those little suckers can be so strong holding onto the side of the pool when you’re trying to tell them the fun’s over and it’s time to head home. Anyway, the girls were in class with their friends Olivia and Caroline. Anna and Olivia turned out to be the ultimate negotiators. The instructor was trying to convince them to jump into the pool where she was waiting to catch them. Olivia (age 3) told the instructor that she was attending a tea party later in the day and she didn’t want to mess up her hair. Plus she didn’t want to get her face wet. Anna said she would jump in but she just liked climbing in better. Wouldn’t it be okay if she just climbed in? In the meantime, Lauren has jumped in, climbed out and jumped in again at least a gazillion times. I just have to laugh. When lessons ended on Thursday, I let them play in the kiddie pool which is about 20 inches deep. They were both very brave about putting their faces in the water and using a kickboard to splash around. I looked down for a split second and then back up to see Lauren completely underwater. I jumped up and ran over to the pool ready to jump in after her when she stood up , wiped the water out of her eyes and said, “Mommy, I did it!” There was no stopping her after that. She would just launch herself into the water, totally submerge herself and kick around. I was so proud of both of them!!

The "Bide" Shop

For Mother’s Day this year, Doug took the girls and I to San Francisco for the day. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed walking through the farmer’s market at the Ferry Market building. We had a great lunch at Asqew Grill and took the girls to play in the Golden Gate Park. One of the best parts of the day was this wonderful field of flowers we came across on our way home. I’m so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband and such sweet daughters.

The next morning, still in honor of Mother’s Day, Anna and Lauren set up a “Beauty Salon” or “Bide Srrp” in their bathroom to pamper me. I was treated to a pedicure and a manicure by my two darling girls. Check out the great job they did!

Hip Hop Bad Guys & Hi-Ya Girls

It's amazing how much kids pick up from shows labeled as "children's tv". Recently I came across the girls kicking their bedroom doors. When I asked them what they were doing they said they were practicing being "China or Hi-ya girls". They had seen an episode or two of "Kim Possible" and so Doug and I decided it might be time to take that show off of the list of shows we allow them to watch. Two days later I found them playing "Hip Hop bad guys and Hi-ya girls which basically involved a lot of kung-fu type movements, kicking and an abundant use of the word "Hi-Ya!" They've even incorporated all of this into their dancing. Whereas, we used to have two little ballerinas, we now have some serious break dancing, hip-hop ninja busting movers. Everytime I see it, I feel like the song "Everybody was Kung-fu fighting" should be playing somewhere in the background. I guess the fact that we watch "So You Think You Can Dance" doesn't help as the girls dance much more aggressively these days. Perhaps it's time to invest in some "Swan Lake" ballet DVDs. Speaking of dance, I've just learned that Katee from this season's "SYTYCD" was actually a student of the owner of the dance studio Anna attended last fall. The choreographer Mia Michaels also showed up at the studio for a day of instruction a few months ago. If we were staying in this area and Anna were serious about dance, I think we could consider ourselves lucky to have such a great studio so nearby.

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Anna walked in the other day while I was cooking dinner and said, "Mommy, what is that? It smells the goodest." "Honey", I said, "goodest is not a word. We say either good, better or best". She thought about it for a second and asked, "Well, why isn't it a word?" I responded that it wasn't proper English to say "goodest". She finally looked at me and said, "Well, okay then is that the Spanish for Chinese? Just tell me." How do you even respond to that one??

On our way to base we ran into a traffic jam. Anna asked if there was a wreck. I told her I didn't think so and that the traffic was probably backed up because of some road construction. Lauren idolizes her big sister and often will ask the exact same question as Anna even using the exact same intonation. So, exactly two seconds later, Lauren asked, "Mommy, is there a wreck?" Exasperated, Anna said, "No, Laurie, remember what Mommy just said? There's road confusion!"

We checked out a local Indian grocery store recently looking for a particular spice for a curry we were making. The girls had a fun time taking in all of the wonderful smells emanating from the store as well as looking at all of the unusual ingredients that lined the store shelves. There were a lot of "what are these" questions which I did my best to answer. Lauren was standing by a bag of split peas and called me over. Again, the "what are these" question popped up. I told her that those were split peas at which time she promptly leaned over and spit on the bag. I guess I need to do a better job of enunciating in the future. :)