For the Birds

On Valentine's Day we lovingly made bird feeders for the neighborhood birds.


I'm starting to wonder if Milk Jug Bird Feeders are just an ugly joke on the neighbors and actually completely non-functional.

So far this has been our only visitor in 3 days...

...and he won't go near the milk jugs either.

So much for recycling.

Now for the girls...

Bella snuggles are always nice, even Snickers enjoys them.

Lily singing at her schools Mother's Celebration

(I missed the note about wearing red/pink.)

I'll try to post the video. It's 4 minutes long, but SUPER cute!!

Pictures!

Found the 'thingy'



Bird Identification is hard, especially with a blurry picture & bad memory.

fyi this deer was walking not running. When they run their toes spread apart and you can see the 'dewclaws'.

Nature Baby Nature

Okay so this weekend I found this blog: http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/.

I thought her ideas would give us some direction and focus to our outdoor adventures. Yesterday we went on a nature walk down our street. It's so funny what kind of things fascinate my girls. We saw a stream in our front yard...thanks to the 50 degree temps! We followed it to the drain. The girls were amazed that the snow was melting and flowing down the street. At every drain I'd hear...mommy look at this one, do you hear the water? We jumped in puddles and followed a pretend bear to his snow cave. Lily was able to tell me the birds we saw were crows. Now I know that's not too tough, but I am still impressed.

This morning, as we are pulling out of our driveway, there next to the house was a deer! Normally this is how the rest of the story would go...I stopped the car and said Lily look a deer and Lily would look and I'd drive off. But this is how the story goes today...I stopped the car and said look girls a deer. Lily saw it right away, but Bella couldn't. After a few seconds of hearing her struggle, I turned around to get her unbuckled. (I wouldn't normally do this because we are on our way to dance class and if I unstrap her that means I have to re-strap her and we don't have time for that.) Bella got free, stood up, saw the deer and a squeal of glee came out of her. Yes, glee. The deer turned its head, probably wondering what that shreek was, and stared right at us...so we stayed longer (crazy I know, what about dance class?). Then he started walking toward us. I was, I mean the girls were so excited but were really great about staying quiet so they, um I mean we wouldn't scare it. It was only a few minutes and then he turned around and walk away and we headed off to dance class. There was a bonding moment there though.

We went to the library after dance class to find out more about our deer. We got the book All About Deer by James Arnosky. We determined that we saw a White-Tailed doe although Lily thinks it could have been a Black-Tailed doe. I'm pretty sure she's wrong...3 year olds. When we got to the page on deer tracks I, er, we had to go out and check. So out we went and there they were...deer tracks! Can you believe it? I know the way I'm reacting it's as if I've never seen a deer before. But I am having this child-like wonder with nature all of a sudden. We followed the tracks and discovered they were eating off one of our trees, just like the book said. We found some other 'bonuses' the book didn't mention but hey those are the facts of life.

We spent an hour outside today. Amazing I know. We got some sledding and swinging in. Took a 'safari' across Mister John's yard to watch Miss Flo's bird feeders. After this post I'm going to search what kind of bird we saw. My hope is that one day I'll be able to blurt out oh look girls a such and such bird/leaf/flower/animal/etc. But hey we've all got to start somewhere. And I'm right at a 3 year old, um maybe 4 year old level. Perfect!

If I could find our camera attachment thingy, I'd post some pictures. But it's missing right now, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Seriously?

Its snowing again! Can a woman get a break from...
30 minute getting ready to go out in the snow?
cold hands?
almost sledding down the back cliff?
wet pant bottoms?
trying to pull a kid in snow boots out of an infant swing?
shoveling?
cold, crying kids?
heating bills?
dirty water puddles?
runny noses?

I promised myself I'd start taking the girls out daily for at least 30 minutes. I know that seems like a short time, but for someone who hates cold...it's a stretch. The next day it starts snowing...of course.

With all my complaining I should say it has been fun. We've gone on 'journeys', looked for animal tracks, played with sticks (some how that is 30 minutes of fun...seriously!), sledding, swinging, and best of all we caught pretend bunnies. Now I feel I have to not be ungrateful for this beautiful snow, because it really is beautiful. So let me re-try that with a positive outlook...

*That extra 30 minutes getting dress helps speed the day along.
*Cold hands? Well there's nothing good about cold hands except drinking hot cocoa to warm them up...YUM!
*I'm finding a new love for sledding..."mommy's turn by herself."
*that's what driers are for right?
*During this fiasco Lily said "You're doing it mama, I'm almost out"
*Who knew kids like to shovel...to bad they aren't good at it yet.
*Cold crying kids? Not fun either...but that's where that hot cocoa comes in handy again...SWEET!
*Phooey to heating bills, dirty water puddles and runny noses...things could be worse.

To me going out in the snow is like working out. Getting out there and doing it isn't always fun and sometimes it's easier to just turn the TV on, but once we are out we're glad we made the effort.

PS...Don't get the idea that I workout. I don't and I'm not planning to anytime soon...I do believe it is too cold to workout. Yes, it is definitely TOO COLD! ;)

PPS...Our Christmas tree is sitting on our front porch and Lily gives it a hug everytime before we come inside.

For the Sake of Cuteness

Have I ever mentioned that my kids are the cutest kids in the world. Seriously, they are. I love them so much. My newest/oldest favorite thing they do is talk. I love hearing the things they have to say. I've decided to keep track of the cuteness since I forget so much important stuff so easily...so here's a peek at my notebook of things I've heard over the past month ...

Lily as we discuss making better choices: "Let's take a break from all the talking."

Conversation with Lily as we are taking down the Christmas Tree:
(Lily standing really close to the tree)
ME: What are you doing?
LILY: Hugging my tree.
ME: Why?
LILY: I'm going to miss it.

Conversation with Lily:
(Lily standing on one foot)
ME: What are you doing? (sense a theme)
LILY: "I'M A FLAMINGO!!"

Bella when our piano arrived: "I love this piano!"
Lily when our piano arrived: "Can they take it back now?"

Conversation with Bella after we dropped Lily at school:
BELLA: "Lili my friend and Timby my friend, Nana my friend, Daddy my friend, Auntie and Mommy my friend."
ME: "Anyone else?"
BELLA: "Uncle Mark"
(Sorry to all the relatives who were left out)

Lily to me as I'm playing piano: "Mom you have to stop playing. Your fingers are going to get tired."

Bella, after I took her sippy cup instead of Lily's: "Actually, that's mine" (This from a 2 year old!)

Frankly Bella is always coming up with some kind of cuteness. There are entire conversations about a range of topics. I'm always flabbergasted by her vocabulary. Maybe this is how most 2 year olds are but I know Lily wasn't and so it's new to me. I LOVE THE CUTENESS!

Thank you girls for making Mommy smile!

(Notice I've completely ignored the fact that I haven't posted in um...yeah...)

The Big Day

This day would come eventually. Lily was three, Bella has some issues with her molars and I hadn't been in almost 4 years. Today was the big day . . . a family trip to the family dentist. Normally I hit the library before these type of events and stock up on books. (Before Mexico Trip-airplane books, before apple picking-apple books you get the idea.) But this past week came and went so quickly I didn't think about it and when I did remember I needed dentist books, it was last night. Well, the day went smooth without any books.

We all brushed our teeth and headed off to Dr. Schultz. Of course we hit all kinds of traffic and Mommy took the craziest, longest way, got behind the slowest driver ever and hit some serious traffic on Fairfield's original version of Main Street. We made it a few minutes late and a bit cranky but we were there. Tom was nice enough to take the morning off and help.

Our dentist is very high tech and very cool (aka he has a TV set up above the dental chair). Two minutes after we walked in Lily asked to go in and watch a show. I did prep them a bit :) It was our turn and we went in. Nurse Paula turned on Dora and the kids were happy. Mommy sat in the chair with Bella in my lap and Lily sat in Tom's lap on another chair. Dr. Schultz came in and chatted a bit. It took awhile but it was finally decided that Bella could in fact see the dentist despite her heart defect. He looked at Bella and said, "You must be Bella." And she shook her head yes. She opened her cute little mouth for him and even let him stick the little mirror and pokie thing into her mouth. I was amazed. She cried once during the polishing aspect of the appointment, the stopped and said we'll take a break. So she laid her head back, opened her mouth and resumed watching Dora, while Dr. Schultz resumed polishing. She was a perfect patient. He decided she has some enamel defect on her lower back molars. Right now we are going to keep them nice and clean and keep an eye out for anymore enamel chipping away. Eventually he said she'd probably need a crown. I don't even know what that means but crowns sound expensive.

Next Lily came up and sat in the chair all by herself (while I held her hand the WHOLE time). My brave girl! ;) It was so cute to watch her have a conversation with Dr. Schultz about why he became a dentist and cats and such. She opened her mouth and so began her appointment. He said her teeth were very pretty and told her she did a good job keeping them clean. She has some alignment issue -thanks to that paci but he expects that to correct itself over the years.

Mommy went next and so far so good. I have some jaw issue and a minor enamel defect myself, but honestly I didn't understand what he was talking about except that it wouldn't lead to any more money being spent. Right now that's the bottom line for me - how much is this going to cost us. We ended up being there for 2.5 hours!! While Nurse Paula took my x-rays he was with his next patient. So I have yet to learn if my 4 years of neglect lead to any cavities.

Tom and I are so proud of the girls. They were awesome patients and I'm glad no one was traumatized by the days events...

...well except the cats. I thought Lily was gluing in the kitchen, but apparently she wasn't. After naps, Lily decided the cats needed a hair cut because she didn't want their hair to get into their eyes. Snickers is now without his whiskers and has a few bald patches. I guess better a cat hair cut than a Lily hair cut.

Now for pictures...

She looks rather scared...I never saw this angle.
For those who are wondering, yes poke-a-dot puppy
(now known as Cally) made the trip too.


Chatting about why he became a dentist

Ernest Send Us Some Heat

Earlier this week we were without heat. We'd turn the thermostat up but the furnace wouldn't turn on. I didn't notice because I keep it cold anyways. But Tom was concerned because the weather reports said the temperatures would drop below freezing at night. So he ran around trying to figure out what could have happened.

Flash back, 2 days, I was upstairs doing who knows what. I needed quiet so I let the girls watch Max and Ruby in the basement. I looked/listened down to make sure everything was okay and I saw a dark basement with a chair on the landing at the bottom of the stairs. So I went down, turned on the light and asked what was going on. Lily yelled, "Mom! We're at the movies." She ran over stood on the chair and flipped the light switch off. That's fine they are being quiet, gives me a few minutes to check email.

Flash forward, Tom couldn't figure out what the problem was. I remember once at my mom's house the heat wasn't working and the Red-don't ever touch this switch-Switch had been touched. I had been cleaning out the work room/boiler room and thought maybe I hit our Red Switch by accident. I went to the basement turned the lights on and noticed right there with all the other light switches was our Red-don't ever touch this switch-Switch and it had been touched. Apparently it wasn't just movie night, it was save mom and dad some money night.