Chores, Errands, Fun
Coffee, "Dinosaur Rescue," a race out to the driveway for a trash truck sighting, breakfast, make the bed, laundry, feed the dog, put away clothes, get kids dressed, get teeth brushed, pick up, change the kids' beds, water trees, clean out potties, shower, get dressed, dishes.
Then out for gas (it was over $3.50 not long ago).
The car wash, where Sis got popcorn but Bubs didn't because he didn't get in his car seat when I asked. (It's the Breaking Bad car wash that we go to.)
Quick back home to go potty.
The park next to the arroyo near our hose...and apparently according to the nearby sign they are doing some sort of water reclamation thing and so the arroyo will have water until March...so weird.
Fun at the playground and then "baby races" in the grassy field.
And finally, Flying Star lunch with Daddy, who's working from home this afternoon so he can help with the kids and I can work.
Nice morning.
XOXO
Sis at the Sand Playground
Warm day yesterday (I am loving New Mexico winters) and so we took the kids to the "Sand Playground" (La Paloma Park) after naps. They rode their bikes, climbed and slid, got all rosy-cheeked...I love that my kids love the outdoors. This last picture is Sis not wanting to leave...
XO
Kid Cuteness, January 18, 2015
Luke, helping me peel bananas for breakfast, talking about the step when you first break it open: "Look, Mommy! It looks like a narwhale!"
Luke, as he and Sis and I were sitting together at the coloring station. "Look, we're all together! It's so nice to be together!"
Luke waving his hands back and forth as quickly as possible, fingers outstretched. "Look Mommy! I'm doing shooting stars!"
Zo, getting out of the car at night: "We have to see the dark before we go inside!" Followed by checking out the sky and the stars in the driveway, looking for the moon, sometimes standing but every evening is a wonder worth laying down in the driveway to fully check out, too.
Luke, slipping a rock into his pocket: "I put my superpowers in my pocket."
Daddy in the evenings has been giving the kids his new flashlight, after which they run around the darkened house shining it everywhere saying, "Flashlight power!!!"
Bubs to his Sis, when she was upset because we had left the house to go to the library and she wasn't happy with her shoe choice, and I wouldn't go back. "What would make you happy, Sissy?"
Sis: "The highway. I want to be on the highway. The highway makes me happy."
Bubs: "Mommy, can we go on the highway for Sissy?"
(And so going home, that's what we did.)
Sis, when there's food she doesn't like on her plate: "YUCK!"
Bubs: "Mommy, why do you drink coffee?"
Me: "Because it tastes good and helps me to wake up."
Bubs: "Oh. We drink milk in the morning to wake up."
Bubs, at 5 AM, crying: "I really want to snuggle!"
Me: "Not 'til 7 AM." (We're trying to nip this in the bud.)
Him: "OK." And he miraculously goes back to sleep but at 7 is in our bed, curing his little body up to mine. It's the sweetest thing...
Sis: "I like bread and mac and cheese. I like it more than carrots."
XO
Leaf Monster
Down at the wood chip park today there was a thick layer of leaves, coated in frost. At the bottom of the slides were thin sheets of ice, like panes of glass, tiny bubbles throughout. But the sun was warm and we had a great time, first stomping the ice into bits and then the kids took armfuls and armfuls of leaves and threw them at me as I stood in the grass, asking me to bend my head down, covering my hair with them. The leaves had that lovely forest-y dried leaf smell, just a tad bit damp. The children shrieked with laughter.
"Leaf Monster, Mommy!" they said. "We're turning you into a leaf monster!"
XO
Mischief
Mid-morning, the house got VERY quiet all of a sudden. Always a bad sign.
I went looking for the kids and found them under the kitchen table, having taken the leftover chocolate Santas out of the freezer and eating them as fast as they could. (Luckily, they hadn't been under there long.)
"We were under the table because we didn't want you to find us!" Luke said.
XO
Luke, Monday Morning
Part of a morning that included "Babies" with Daddy, Cheerios and kiwi and peanuts for breakfast, playing with wooden trains and puzzle cars in the living room, stories (including "This Is a Moose,") riding bikes in the house, helping Mommy chop the vegetables for chili for dinner, coloring, etc...
XO
Kid Cuteness, January 10, 2015
Luke when he knows I'll say something he won't like (e.g., that it's not OK to throw your toys all over the playroom): "Don't talk to me, Mommy! Stop talking!"
Luke on a day it snowed a tiny bit: "We are lost in a winter wonderland!"
Zo when the cousins were visiting, wearing her new pig slippers: "I'm going to be a scary pig and chase Bailee!
Luke (very matter of fact): "There are no scary pigs here! I haven't seen any scary pigs."
Luke when told there would probably be more presents next Christmas: "That's OK. We have enough."
Zo: "Uncle Luke looks like Uncle Ben. They match." (I love how Uncle Luke is a real, if intangible, presence in their lives...)
Mommy and Uncle Ben's Backpacks
My parents gave Luke and Zo backpacks for Christmas. The red was mine growing up, the blue Uncle Ben's. We used them for the first time today to take books back to the library and to pick up a new batch. Kids loved them...
Zoey at Two-and-Three-Quarters
Dear Zoey,
At two-almost-three, you are love and light (most of the time), interspersed by brief flashes of frustration, pouting and temper.
You can pout--lower lip way out--like no one else when you want to. You can be mean to your brother. You can yell "No!" and kick and kick when you don't want to do something. You can throw a temper tantrum if you don't get your way.
But more--much more--than all this is your sweet smile. Your adorable way of saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" with a questioning lilt at the end that I need to get on film because there's no way to convey it exactly in writing. Your enthusiasm for pretty much everything. Your snuggly nature. The way you take care of your stuffies--you're such a good mommy to them. The way you need your stuffed pig buckled into the seat in the car. Your general easy-going-ness. The games you make up as you play in the playroom in the early morning...it's a delight to wake to your imagination at work. Your love of books. Your willingness to pick up. Your help in the kitchen...you're especially good with putting things I've cut up into a bowl and stirring. The way you want a hug and a kiss every night. And back scratchies and a song--"scratch harder," you always say. The beautiful pictures you color. The way you play and share so nicely with your brother (most of the time). Your energetic dancing. Hide-and-seek where you run up and hug me as soon as I come to find you, shrieking with laughter. How you want to read 'Into the Castle' for the 10,000th time. The way you race around the house on your bike, lifting your feet for speed, totally fearless. I could go on and on...
I cherish each precious day we have together. I'm so grateful I get to be your Mommy.
Love,
Mommy
Santa Fe: Some Favorite (Winter) Things
- Hyde State Park—Beautiful winter hiking, snow everywhere but the day we went sunny and (somewhat) warm.
- Jambo Cafe—In a strip mall so the ambiance isn't what you go for, but such good food! African/Carribean...so unusual! We keep talking about making the drive up to Santa Fe just to eat here.
- 10,000 Waves—Snow and ice and waterfalls, koi, dried leaves floating down, pools of hot water, spa treatments. I can't wait to go back (and I'd love to bring my mom. And/or my best friend).
- El Paragua—This is in Espanola, which is 1/2 hour or so north, a funky old stone building with the best New Mexican food.
- Pink Adobe—In the evenings there's a fragrant pinion fire burning outside at the entrance, everything inside warm and cozy, quirky and old and I'm not usually a margarita person but the "Pink Dragon" is fun and festive, steak, green chile sauce, an "only in New Mexico" kind of place.
- Counter Culture—Cool sleek modern unpretentious breakfast place. HOT green chile. There used to be a great (used) mid-century modern furniture store next door, but no longer.
- A book in a coffee house on a Monday afternoon...what a luxury...
XO
PS I hate the Plaza. So does my husband. We're probably the only people in the world who visit Santa Fe and intentionally stay away.
New Mexico Cool
The fact that there was only a skiff of snow didn't stop the kids and their Me-Ma from building a snowman. Who cares if you're only four inches tall if you look this cool? No snowman ever made kids happier.
XO
Luke at Two-and-Three-Quarters
Dear Luke,
At two-almost-three, you can be a challenge. You whine and cry and frustrate easily. You often push away affection; sometimes when I kiss you you say, "No! I don't want a kiss! Take it off!" and I have to wipe it away to make it OK. Often the clothes I pick out for you aren't OK. Or I cut up your food when you want it whole--and then I can't put it back together, which you don't understand. Or leave it whole when you want it cut up. You have a million demands at bedtime. You can be mean to your sister.
But all that's just a small part of you. The bigger--much bigger--part is all the sweetness and wonderfulness. Like mornings when you're super snuggly, come into our bed and lay next to me and I'll hold your little warm body and just marvel at the fact that you're with me. I love watching the delight you take in cars and trucks, construction equipment, trains and your play kitchen. I love how you say after bedtime, "I forgot something. I forgot a hug." and then let me hold you for a long time. I love your smile. I love how you race around the house on your bike and play bumper cars with your Sis and like nothing more than a good "Baby Race."I love how you are up for almost anything. I love how determined you are to be a big kid. I love how incredibly sweet you are most of the time to your sister, even when she's not particularly nice back. I love that you'd rather be outside than anything. I love how you have nursery rhymes--whole books even--memorized and recite them back to me. I love how you are learning to do things that are helpful, like turn on the outdoor Xmas lights every evening and pick up your toys. I love how much you love the bath...I'll let you stay in long after I get out your Sis and you'll play and play and play. I love how your imagination is growing bigger by the day. I love that you ask, "Why?" 10,000 times a day. I love that you love the moon and can't wait to go find it every night. I love how you miss your Dad when he's at work and give him the greatest greetings when he gets home. Mostly I just love all the little moments we have together. I love that I get to be your Mommy. It is such a joy and a privilege.
Can't wait for the rest of two and beyond...
Love,
Mommy
A Day in the Life, Winter 2015 Edition
6:18 AM: Luke wakes up crying, both kids say they want to snuggle in our bed so I bring them in with their spotted blankies and Sis also has Gugs and Lamikins.
6:45 AM: Kids are up riding bikes. Laying with Mardi Gras beads, drinking some milk that I get them, playing "Grocery Store," where they set their new play food out in aisles and then collect it.
7:30 AM: Kids ask Dad if they can watch "Babies" (cartoons), he says ask Mom and I say yes so they snuggle up in our bed with Daddy and I get a little time to read and write.
7:55 AM: Luke hangs out with me and builds a train set-up.
8:05 AM: Cheerios and milk for Bubs, followed by fashioning a carrot nose for the 6-inch snowman they made the other day with Me-Ma.
8:30 AM: Breakfast for Sis while I do a grocery list.
8:47 AM: Quick shower for me and everyone gets dressed.
9:30 AM: lengthy reading of Monkey With a Tool Belt.
10:05 AM: Brunch at Eggg and I prior to errands.
11:00 AM: Breaking Bad car wash.
11:30: Trader Joes
12:15: Hang out in kitchen while groceries get unpacked.
12:45: Bije riding in front yard while Xmas lights get put away.
1:30: Moo Baa La La La.
1:35: Down for nap
2:00 Asleep (Bubs went to sleep first, which is unusual)
