Recently in Grateful Friday Category

It's been a while since I posted. Things have been busy and I never got around to writing last week's Grateful Friday post so this week it's a "Grateful Friday Update" instead.



- Sindri is doing really well. We did have a few days where he would wake up and immediately start yelping/screaming. The vet said it was because he was trying to move those same muscles in his shoulder that are now sewn together. The poor thing would wake up and forget that he didn't have that leg and just freak out a little. He's doing better now and hasn't had that happen in almost a week. He's been kind of depressed all week, which we've read is normal. Right now you're probably thinking "depressed dog???" and thinking of the movie Best in Show where the dog has to see the therapist... What we really mean is that he refuses to get out of his cage. He'll get out occasionally to get his food (though he's barely eaten anything except for a few scraps I fed him) but otherwise he doesn't like to hang out with us. This weekend we took him out for ice cream (they give free sundaes to dogs) and a walk around the duck pond. He LOVED the ice cream and all the attention he got. We put a t-shirt on him to both protect his stitches and spare anyone from the gross site of the incision. Once we were at the duck pond, we let him off his leash a little. First, he went down and chased the ducks and started wading in the shallow water. Then, we got to the other side of the pond, which is pretty much a swamp. He immediately ran down the hill and fell face first into the mud. He got out on his own, but he was still a muddy mess. He got his stitches removed today. The vet has given him a "go" to do whatever he wants. Our next steps are to watch for any respiratory distress (lung cancer) or other limping (bone cancer again). I'm hoping it will be quite a while before we see either.



- We visited Sun Valley Beach this weekend. It's a gigantic acre-sized pool surrounded by sand. The pool ranges from about 1' to 12' deep and has lots of kids' areas as well as adult slides. The girls loved it and spent a lot of time playing in the sand too. It was nice to get outside and relax a little in the water. Bill and I have talked about how unfortunate it is that we don't have regular access to a pool (the community one closed a month ago -- why so early when it's still 100 degrees out? I ask myself the same). If we did, the girls might be a little more comfortable in the water and might even be starting to learn to swim. They'll definitely be taking swim lessons next summer.



- The girls and I visited the High Museum for their "Toddler Thursdays." They have a really wonderful children's area, full of information about sculptors and artists and lots of hands-on activities. I went with some friends and we stayed there for about 45 minutes before checking out the rest of the museum. The kids' areas are great, but my real reason for visiting was to see the Annie Liebovitz exhibit. This week was the last time it would be here in Atlanta, so it was kind of my last chance. Unfortunately, we decided to take the kids to the exhibit (read: adult area) after they'd been playing in the kids' area for about an hour. They did NOT want to be quiet and look at pictures. Eventually my friend and I got kicked out of the exhibit because the kids were going nuts. Her 9 month old was screaming and Maddie and Josie just did not want to stop running and giggling. (In our defense, we were actually at the elevator, waiting to get on, when the security guard asked us to leave.) In retrospect, I would have taken them to the adult areas first and followed it up with the play area. Oh well. Hindsight...

- I attended a craft class with the kids. A woman I know through my new mom's group is incredibly talented and has started offering sewing/arts classes at her house. She has a daughter Maddie's age and they get to play together in her play area while she and a few other moms and I work on projects. Last week I made sign for each of the girls with wooden letters to spell their names. I painted and then decoupaged the letters and nailed them together. The signs are now hanging over their beds and I have to admit that I did pretty well. I'm not usually a crafts person, but it was fun and I can't wait for the next class (sewing!! Maybe I'll finally be able to learn what to do with my machines.) I've been wanting to take some art and sewing classes for a while, but the problem of childcare and scheduling always seems to get in the way. This has been a perfect solution.



- Our neighbor's son's birthday party. It was a "Superhero/Fairy Princess" party, so Maddie and Josie got the chance to dress in their finest. I'm lucky I made them wear clothes underneath their princess dresses because it was hot out and they immediately stripped down to their clothes soon after we got there.



- We've spent a lot of time at the bookstore recently. In fact, I think they're sick of us. It's just so nice to go there in the evenings after we pick up Bill from work. The kids can read or play with the train set, and Bill and I get a chance to check out some books or magazines ourselves. Add Starbucks to the mix and I'm in heaven.



- The girls started their first ballet class of the season this week. This time Josie got to be in the same class as Maddie. That means I was sitting outside the room by myself. I've always been keeping Josie entertained while Maddie was in ballet or soccer, but now I didn't even know what to do with myself. At one point, I wanted to ask my friend if I could hold her baby, if only because I wasn't sure what to do with my hands!! The girls loved the class and Josie's first words to me afterwards were, "I didn't cry!!!" (We had a talk beforehand about how she had to be a big girl and not cry all the time.) The teachers said she did a great job and followed instructions and wasn't at all intimidated. They also told me that they could see such a difference between Maddie and Josie. To quote one of them, "Maddie is all about 'Look at me!' while Josie just hangs back and watches and does everything quietly." Yep, those are my girls exactly.

- Only a little over 3 weeks until our trip to Disney World!!!

- We get to pick up Sindri this evening. They kept him overnight for observation. I'm anxious to see him and even the girls have been talking today about how they miss him and want to go get him tonight. I thought they hadn't even noticed.

- I'm thankful that not all public toilets automatically flush. Josie had one flush while she was on it the other day and now refuses to use any restroom other than ours at home -- and even then only if we assure her that ours does not flush by itself. It's made for some difficult shopping trips. Three times already we've had to leave a store as soon as we got there because she had to go potty and we needed to take her home to do so. I'm not sure how to get her past this fear other than constantly reassuring her and showing her how toilets flush manually.

- The gigantic watermelon from my stepdad's garden. He always loads us up with fresh fruit and vegetables in the summer, most of which we have to give to friends because we can't eat them in time. This time he gave us the biggest watermelon I've seen in a long time. I used about 2/3 of it, and ended up giving the rest to some neighbors. The girls, who usually love melon, informed me that they didn't want any. They now only like "the orange kind" (ie. cantaloupe)

- How loving our two little girls are. Lately, they need to bring their stuffed animals (sometimes numbering in the double digits) with us in the car wherever we go. There's always a mother, father, big sister, little sister, grandma, grandpa, best friend, etc. Each of them has a name and a role. Maddie and Josie each have a collection. Yes, our car is so full you can barely see the kids in the backseat. It's sweet, though, to hear them talk to the animals and make them, in turn, talk to one another. The other day we were heading to the bookstore when Josie started putting two big rubber balls into her backpack. "No, Jo, we can't throw the balls in the store. We'll get in trouble." No, Mommy, this is the mama and the baby. I just holding them.

They're wearing my clothes already?

- Despite how heart-wrenching it is, I'm grateful that we found out about Sindri's cancer early, before it was to the point that we'd have to put him down. I know our last few posts might seem like a lot to take for many people reading this. It sounds like we're eulogizing Sindri before he's even gone, but it's almost like we need to get the mourning over with now so we can go on and actually enjoy our time left with him.

- A fantastic weekend roadtrip with just my mom and sister. We rode to Pensacola together to visit a friend of mine who was having a baby shower. The trip was 5 hours each way but it didn't seem like it at all. We talked the entire time and barely listened to the radio or any of the music we'd brought. We relaxed a little on the beach, and waded in the ocean (where there'd been a recent shark attack, but Angie kept that from us. What's it with me and sharks?) We're hoping to do the same thing next summer as well, maybe to Charleston or Savannah or something.

- Our upcoming trip to Disney World. I don't know who's more excited -- the kids or Bill and I. Every night they want to hear a "story about Disney World" and they've pored over the brochures the park sent us already. We'll actually be there for Maddie's birthday and she'll get a chance to have lunch with all the Disney Princesses on that day. A 4th birthday to remember! Bill and I literally get teary-eyed when we think about how excited the girls will be once we get there. I thought Disney was fun as a kid, but I had no idea how much enjoyment I'd get out of it as an adult watching my kids enjoy it.

- Making cookies with Maddie and Josie. There was more flour on the floor and counter than actually in the cookies, but I think they had fun. We saved them for Bill to try when he got home. You'll have to ask him how they tasted. I made sure we put lots of icing on them to mask any unusual taste.

- And you?

No, it's not a picture of the girls this week, but c'mon it made you smile, didn't it? Or maybe cringe with fear...

- Finding Josie's glasses after they'd been lost for over a week. It was bittersweet, though. We found them (okay, Maddie found them) the day after we bought her some new ones. Insurance only covers lenses every year and frames every two years so we had to pay the entire cost out of pocket. In a sense, we just spent a couple hundred dollars on something we didn't need afterall. At least she has a backup pair now. Ouch.

- The birthday party for the daughters of some really close friends of ours. Their girls and our girls play together wonderfully, and like always, we were the last ones to leave the party. On the way there, Bill instructed me that we wouldn't be staying long like we always do. And then who was the one who had to be dragged out of there? You guessed it.

- 12 straight hours of sleep. I didn't realize how tired I was until Monday night when I fell asleep on our bed around 9:30pm (Bill was watching the girls while I had time to myself to read) and didn't wake up again until 9:30am. That is so NOT like me. It was nice, though.

- Heading to a baby shower this weekend for a friend of mine from high school. The last time I saw her was at my wedding, and we've both since had a lot of changes in our lives. She and I lived together on the same floor of our dorm for two years in high school, and she ended up going to college 30 minutes away from the one I attended as a freshman. About six years ago, we took a road trip to Key West -- something I'll probably devote a whole chapter to in my future autobiography. I'm looking forward to seeing her and hanging out at the beach right by her house. Oh, and I'll be leaving the girls home with Bill. It will just be me, my mom, and my sister on a little girls' road trip. Mommy's weekend away!

- The town birthday celebration last weekend. Live music, cake, fireworks. It was incredibly hot so we didn't get there until about 8:30, which means we missed the cake but had plenty of time before the fireworks. We found a nice spot away from the crowds, laid out our blanket, and watched the fireworks. Unfortunately, we ended up sitting right in the path of the wind from the fireworks so we got covered with ash and various cardboard bits. Still, it was fun.

- There's so much silliness around our house these days. Both girls insist on being little comediennes. And watch out if you give them even a little bit of chocolate -- both will literally run around in circles giggling and making silly noises and faces. It's funny, until it's time to get dressed or get their shoes on or get them to do anything in general.

- Pools, or large bodies of water in general. For the Northerners reading this, you might not know that we've had temps in the 100s all week, with the heat index even higher. On the few times we've gone outside at all, it's been to the pool, though even that water was lukewarm. When it's still the high 80s at night, you know you've got a hot day coming.

Our two Cinderellas

- Bill's summer work hours. He gets home early (for him) on Fridays and we get the chance to start our weekend off early. I love weekends with him home. We try not to schedule anything with anyone else if we can help it, just so we can have that time all to ourselves.

- The warm fuzzies I get when I hear that my friend has mentioned me to her other friends and told them that I'm "a very sweet person." P-shaw.

- Activities! This new mom's group has been great because there are activities for kids almost every day of the week. We haven't gone to every one, but it's nice to be able to pick and choose so freely, and to be able to know people whenever you do go. This week the girls went to a "Pick a Princess Ballet Class" at a local dance studio. Basically, it's a little ballet class, but they center it around one of the Disney princesses. The class Maddie and Josie attended was for Cinderella. It was the first time I'd seen them in a class together, without me, interacting with each other and the other kids. The moms were able to watch from outside the door. It was so cute, and I took lots of pictures.

- A very special moment during the above mentioned ballet class: At one point, the instructor asked everyone to find a partner. Even though one of Maddie's good friends was in the class with her, she and Josie immediately walked over to one another and held hands. I literally got teary-eyed. All the moms around me went, "Awwwww!" in unison. I love seeing them express the love they have for each other.

- And speaking of ballet... Josie will be in Maddie's ballet class starting again in September. She had started her own class for the summer, but it was canceled due to low enrollment. Josie was upset, and I felt awful because she talked about her teacher and the class all the time. Now she and Maddie will be in Miss Mary's class together. I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself. During the princess class, I realized it was the first time I'd actually sat by myself while the girls were both involved in something without me. Until now, I've had Josie stay with me or we've done Mommy and Me stuff.

- Watching The Wizard of Oz with Bill and the girls at the park last weekend. Our city hosts "movies under the stars" once a month. This was the first one we'd been to all summer. We arrived early, staked out a spot, and let the girls play at the playgroup while we waited for it to get dark. Once the movie started it rained just a little, but not enough for anyone to get too uncomfortable (we were under the umbrella and some plastic anyway.) The girls loved the movie. The rain cooled everything off and it was nice just sitting there with my little family on a summer evening.

- Discovering an indoor playground. Not one of the jumpy, inflatable places. Just a local church with an area devoted entirely to any equipment manufactured by Little Tikes or Fisher Price. It's carpeted AND fenced off so the kids can't run off. Did I mention it's indoors? No worries about sunburn or overheating or dehydration (96 degrees today!) There are a couple of playhouses, some climbing gyms for preschoolers, some toddler climbers, etc. Basically, Maddie and Josie just ran around like banshees and wore themselves out while I sat back with some moms and watched them. Didn't have to worry about them falling and hurting themselves much, thanks to the carpeting and padding under the gyms. The absolute best part? It's absolutely friggin' free! The church runs a preschool in the mornings, but in the afternoons you can just go and let the kids play. Isn't that awesome? I'd have loved a place like that as a kid.

- Seeing Amy Grant and Vince Gill in concert at Chastain. It rained. A lot. But we didn't mind so much and no one else did either. Instead of candelabras, it was a sea of umbrellas. The girls loved it -- Maddie danced in the rain and Josie loved cuddling up under the umbrella. We packed a nice dinner and some wine, and just enjoyed ourselves before walking back to the car completely drenched. We stripped the girls down, dried them off, put them in their jammies, into their carseats, and they were out of it before we even got close to home. I'm not a huge fan of Amy Grant or Vince Gill, but Bill got free tickets and we had nothing to do that night. It's not that I don't enjoy their music, but I just probably wouldn't have paid to see them. We couldn't get a babysitter at such a late notice, and we had 4 tickets so we took the girls. It was actually pretty nice seeing a concert together, all 4 of us.

- I'm grateful for the fact that a birthday party we attended this week, during the day, on the hottest day of the summer so far, was a POOL party. The girls had fun in the water and I was more than obliged to go in with them.

- Social networking sites. I've gotten in touch with friends I haven't spoken to in years. I'd searched for them, but couldn't find them until now. I've even found one of my old high school teachers. It's great being able to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances.

- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Here's my routine: I go to bed, turn on the episode of The Daily Show that I've recorded on the DVR, watch and repeatedly laugh out loud to the point that Bill comes in to see what's so funny, catch up on current events, fall asleep. I almost always fall asleep right after the guest interview. Sometimes I'll be awake for the "moment of zen," but most likely I've fallen asleep with a smile on my face. I have to have the TV on to fall asleep. When I was a baby, my mom put a radio in my room near my crib as soon as I was home from the hospital. She wanted me to get used to sleeping with noise. We've done the same with the girls, at first with NPR playing, but now with a CD of recorded wave sounds. No tiptoeing around babies in our house! Unfortunately, Bill likes to sleep with it completely dark and silent. We've worked out a system over the last 9 years or so wherein I always go to bed first, fall asleep to the TV, and then he turns it off when he comes to bed. He's such a night owl anyway that the timing of it is perfect.

- Going without drinking any Coke for about a week and barely missing it at all now. Sometimes I think about it and miss the sugar rush, but then I'll have a drink and it just doesn't taste good at all. Yay! Now if I can only keep from drinking them regularly again.

- The Community Center. I started working out at their gym (free!) one or two evenings after the girls have gone to bed. Now I'm taking a yoga class. I haven't actually taken a class in a long, long time. I do yoga at home, not very consistently, but I'd forgotten how supportive it can be to practice with a class and have a real live human guide you through the asanas. I'm trying to get a friend of mine to go with me next week.

- Chocolate pudding. 'Nuff said.

I had a garage sale this past weekend. I made about $270 -- my goal was $200 so I think I did pretty well in the end. I finally decided that I needed to get rid of all the baby stuff I've been keeping in storage in our shed. Other than loaning some things to friends, I hadn't really gotten rid of ANY baby stuff. I had about 9 gigantic Rubbermaid bins full of just clothing, size newborn to 3T. No kidding. Bill's family has 12 grandchildren, and only 4 of them are girls. Our two girls have always gotten lots of girly clothing for birthdays and holidays.

Preparing for the sale was a lot of work, but luckily I already had the clothes sorted by size and on hangers. My goal was to get rid of almost everything, even if it meant underpricing some items. I usually donate old clothing of mine to Goodwill or the American Kidney Fund, so I thought at least I'd try to make some money from all these clothes. All kids clothing for $1. Complete outfits (with hat, booties, jacket, etc.) for $2. All pairs of shoes for $1. You get the idea. I had a few big ticket items too. Pack n' Play (went within the first hour), portable swing, stroller, carseat, and a little ride-on toy for toddlers.

Seriously, if you're having a garage sale, throw in a few kids items and advertise that you're having a baby and kids sale. You'll be amazed at the response.

Preparing everything was painful. REALLY painful. Each outfit had a memory attached. It was so hard to part with it all, but I kept telling myself that other people would be able to use them and that I'd be raising money for something that the girls would actually use right now. (I'm considering getting a swing set for the backyard.)

My sister is a newlywed and plans on having kids someday, but I didn't want to keep everything in storage for the next five years, and she doesn't have the space for it either. I am keeping my crib for her, though. It's practically new. (Maddie slept with us at first, and then only slept in the crib for a short while before we moved her to her "big girl bed" when Josie came along. Josie slept in her Pack n' Play almost exclusively. She wasn't a fan of the crib at all.)

I advertised on Craigslist and about 6 other free garage sale classified sites. I had people already waiting as I was setting up things on Friday. From there on, I didn't even have a chance to sit down. There was never a moment during the whole 4 hours that someone wasn't there. Success! Ka-Ching! I'd heard that Saturday was even more popular so I was excited about the prospects for the next day. Unfortunately, Saturday was pretty ho-hum. There wasn't even half the traffic that there had been on Friday. Someone told me they had experienced the same and that most people they knew didn't even bother to have a sale on the weekend at all. Hmm. I wish I'd known that sooner. I'd have held the sale on Thursday instead of Saturday.

I got rid of almost everything. I still have the stroller and carseat, which I'll be able to easily sell on Craigslist. I have quite a few clothes left over, but someone has already called and is interested in purchasing all of them for a set price. We'll see if she actually follows through and picks them up.

In all, I think it was a very successful sale. I was very very lucky that Bill took the girls to work with him on Friday, and that my mom and sister came to help on Saturday. The girls had a little lemonade stand and proved themselves to be quite the entrepreneurs going right up to customers to ask if they would like some lemonade. I was so proud of them. They used their profits today to go and pick out a toy at the toy store.

<...queue the annoying toy music in the background>

Just hanging out here in the studio.

- The Georgia Renaissance Festival on Saturday. We're not really into the whole dress-up thing, but we love to see the people and eat the food. I love the gigantic turkey legs. Bill loves all the exposed cleavage.

- Bill has been buying new clothes. The man won't buy anything new for himself to wear until his old clothes are literally falling apart. Even then, he'll try to get away with wearing them. His Christmas gifts from me for the past 6 years have included clothes because he doesn't buy them any other time during the year. Lately, we've been shopping a little for the trip, though, and he's been spotting sales. Even he can't resist spending $3-$6 for a shirt (check out Old Navy this week.) In just the past few days he's nearly doubled the size of his wardrobe. I think I may have converted him. Good.

- NotCouture, from the makers of NotCot.com. My wishlist is growing exponentially as I write this.

- Craigslist ListPic. My search for a new headboard just got easier. (Thanks to a tip on xoxoANP)

- Having two very funny and silly daughters. We started a rewards chart with the girls. We always spoil them when we go shopping, and we decided that they needed to start earning some of their little surprises. If they fill in all the squares on their chart for the day (brush teeth, make bed, no time outs, pick up toys, etc.) then they get some kind of surprise that evening. So far (and it's only happened 3 times in 9 days) their prizes have been an ice cream treat, a new ball from the toy store and... new swimsuits. We promised them they could pick out new swimsuits to wear when they stay with Bill's family while we're in Iceland. His sister and his parents have pools, so the girls will get to do lots of swimming. We took them to Target and they went nuts picking out suits to try on. Their sizes and proportions are so unpredictable right now that we needed to have them try on each one to see if it would fit. They thought it was the greatest game ever. They tried on about 5 swimsuits each, and then traded to try on each other's (and the other's size too.) Each time, they would run out to show Bill, who was waiting patiently on a bench outside the dressing room. They'd giggle and do a little dance, yelling "Look, Daddy!" and then run back in to try on the next one. It was chaos, but also so much fun. Yes, I'm a girly-girl and I'm guessing that my daughters are taking after their mother already. Oh, and don't even get me started on what happens whenever we pass the shoe section... I'll leave that story for Bill to tell.

- The pool we have on our back deck. Our backyard is basically a mix of dirt and clover with some ivy and pine needles mixed in. Last summer we bought a gigantic inflatable pool that fits all four of us. It became muddy pretty quickly, though, as soon as one of us would get in or out. This year Bill set it up on our back deck. The deck is basically bare anyway (we don't have any patio furniture) and the pool fits perfectly. We've used it at least 5 times in the past two weeks. It sounds odd, and probably looks so to our neighbors as well, but all I know is that we've had some great evenings lately, regardless of the 90 degree weather.

- Ice cream trucks. I love them. I remember hearing the tinkering of the song as the truck drove up the street in our old house when I was little. My mom would give my brother and I a quarter each and we'd go pick out what we wanted to eat. (My inability to make a decision then was just as much of a nuisance as it is now.) Whenever I hear one, I have that same thrill and immediately flag the guy down so the girls can get some ice cream. However, the ice cream treats are no longer 25 cents each. My total bill for three treats today came to $5.50. Yikes. Although, with gas prices lately, I'm sure the guy's just trying to break even.

This just reminded me of the ice cream guy we used to have on our street a few years ago. I was about 8 months pregnant with Maddie when he stopped for some kids in front of my house. I went up to the truck and, I kid you not, the guy was identical to Matthew McConaughey's character in Dazed and Confused. Sideburns and all. He even sounded the same. He leered at me and looked me up and down while he handed me my ice cream sandwich. "Here you go, pretty lady," he drawled. Shudder. I was 8 months pregnant for Pete's sake!

Hanging out at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

- Bill's and my anniversary: 4 married, 9 together. It seems like only yesterday that we were slinging pasta at Grisanti's in Bloomington (now closed, unfortunately.) I look forward to the next 9 years.

- Seeing Ari Hest and The Damnwells at Smith's Olde Bar on Thursday. It was our anniversary date this year. We had a great time and Ari Hest was awesome. We only stayed for part of the set for The Damnwells so I can't say much for them, but what we heard sounded pretty good. It was great having an adult night out with Bill. The girls stayed at home with their favorite babysitter, Tanya (the cousin of my friend Carolyn,) so they barely even noticed when we left. Tanya knocked on the door and immediately Maddie took off her clothes and put on a princess dress, pulling out a feather boa for Tanya to wear. I'm assuming they had a great time.

Celebrating our 4th anniversary with Ari Hest

- Attending the ballet recital of Maddie's friend, Grace. Maddie was absolutely enthralled. She literally sat in the middle of the aisle watching the dancers, ages 3 - 18 years old. Afterwards she rushed up to the stage to give Grace a flower we had brought. Carolyn mentioned that Grace was so excited, and calm about going on stage in front of everyone, because she knew Maddie would be watching her. So sweet.

- An afternoon at Atlanta Botanical Garden. Bill's employer was hosting an event there, so we stopped by and ended up staying about 4 hours. The girls especially love the Children's Garden, with fountains where they can play. We had them prepped with swimsuits under their dresses (unlike the first time we went when we just let them play in their diapers -- wet diapers that blew up to about 10 pounds each.) They were amazed by the frog pond. Apparently it's high season for tadpoles and we saw tons, as well as a couple of big bullfrogs. We saw a great bug exhibit where the girls got the opportunity to climb on gigantic bugs.

Honey, I shrunk you and the kids.

- Maddie's last ballet class. Instead of a recital this year, Miss Mary decided to focus on learning the different positions and moves instead of a routine. Parents were invited to the last class of the season to see what the kids had learned. Maddie had us CRACKING UP. Every time Miss Mary would tell the girls to do something (Now turn around!) Maddie would yell out, Look at me! I'm turning around, Miss Mary! Plus, they played the Animal Action game where the girls hide under scarves until Miss Mary taps them on the head with her "magic wand." Then they remove the scarves and act like the animal she has called out. Maddie made sure every animal was a princess animal.

Miss Mary: Okay, girls. Now be a frog and hop up and down.

Maddie: A princess frog?

Miss Mary: Yes, Maddie, the frog can be a princess.

And so on with each animal. If she decides to take ballet again (which, from the pirouettes she does around the kitchen, I'm assuming she will,) the next class season will start in the fall. So Maddie's ballet and soccer are done for the summer, but Josie's ballet class has just begun. I'm sure Maddie will be living vicariously through Josie until September rolls around.

Maddie with her ballerina friends.

- Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, one of our favorite places to go with the girls.

- Josie's infectious giggles. She loves to make you laugh by doing a little robot dance with her tongue sticking out. You have to see it to understand.

- The plans we continue to make for our Iceland trip. My hiking boots are ready to go.

- Finding an awesome swimsuit for the trip (yes, lots of outdoor swimming, believe it or not) at Wal-Mart. It's the exact style and fit that I wanted, and it only cost about $25.

- IKEA Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce.

- The portraits we got made of the girls today. They turned out really cute and we actually got some with both girls smiling. We've had some luck in the past, but it's usually the only one out of 20 shots. This time I had a few more from which to choose. I was also able to get some great shots of the girls individually. I'm obsessed with making sure that their childhoods are documented in pictures -- plus I have a picture frame that I need to fill.

- A wonderful Mother's Day. The girls picked out some candy and decorated cards for me and I got the chance to find out where Bill and I are going for my birthday -- ICELAND!!! I'm so excited. We spent the day shopping for some of the things we'll need for the trip. The shock of it all is still setting in... and the excitement is growing by the minute! I can't wait! It's only a little over 3 weeks away!

- Maddie's soccer season. Her last game was on Saturday. There was a little celebration for the league afterwards with inflatable rides and even a dunk tank. (The Sharks got the chance to dunk Coach Carter.) Each of the players got a trophy as well. The team celebrated with a cookie cake. Unfortunately, it was the hottest day of the year so far so the cookie was pretty much a melted mush. Still good, though. ;)

- Josie's ballet class. She did even better this week. She's becoming much more independent in the class now that she's more familiar with the other girls and her teacher, Miss Donna. It still makes me smile to see her chubby little belly in a leotard.

- The fact that my sanity is still intact, despite Josie's recent displays of "the terrible twos."

- Target Choxie chocolates

- Finding Josie's glasses yesterday. On Sunday evening we went to Brewster's for ice cream after dinner. The night started okay, but by the end Josie had a complete breakdown (of epic proportions) and it was all we could do to get her buckled in her car seat and head home. It wasn't until late Monday afternoon that I realized we didn't have her glasses. I searched the house. Bill and I searched the car when he got home that night. I searched everywhere the last couple of days with no luck. Then I decided to stop by Brewster's on the chance that we dropped her glasses in the parking lot. We did AND they found them AND they saved them for us AND they are in perfect condition. We had just picked up her new prescription lenses last Thursday so it was even more sickening to think that we'd lost a completely new pair. Lucky for us, they're fine and weren't crushed by any cars or worse. Whew.

- The Gwen Stefani concert last Friday night. Bill had gotten me tickets for the concert for Valentine's Day (yes, I do have the best husband in the world!) I've been a fan of No Doubt since well before the song "I'm Just A Girl" hit the radio (when they were more of a ska band.) Gwen's solo albums are so much fun. Despite the torrential rainfall as we entered the outdoor arena (luckily, our seats were under the pavilion,) it was a great show with Akon as the opener. The stage show for Gwen was very elaborate and the Harajuku girls were incredibly cool. Plus, Gwen really just seems so nice. You just know she's someone with whom you would want to be friends. Only slightly disconcerting were the drunk teenagers running around. It was so depressing to see young girls -- not even close to the age of 21 -- running around half-naked, completely drunk, and acting as if they had no self-respect at all. I know I sound old, but it just made me so fearful for what things will be like when Maddie and Josie get that age. I hope that we will have taught them better, but just the idea that they'll have that to deal with makes me so sad for them. (**Not to sound like a prude here: I mean we all had our little rebellious teenager moments, some worse than others, but nothing like what I saw that night. Things are on a whole new level these days.)

- My mom and sister visited last weekend so they could watch the girls while Bill and I went to the concert. They got a chance to see Maddie's last game, in addition to hanging out, shopping, and stuffing ourselves at Olive Garden (one of my mom's favorite restaurants.)

- My new desk chair. Bill got me a new desk chair and I write this sitting with my chin actually above the surface of the desk in front of me. Typing is so much easier this way.

- Last weekend. We took bike rides all weekend (in addition to my 3 hour walk with the girls on last Thursday and 2 hours of yoga on Friday) and ended up only a little sore. We also went to not one but TWO festivals. Yeah, we're festival people (where else can you spend time outside amusing kids and enjoying the art and food yourself?) It was Inman Park Festival on Saturday, followed by the Spring Jonquil Festival on Sunday. By Sunday night we were worn out and the kids went to bed without any fuss.

- Getting together with two of my very close friends this week. Carolyn came over for lunch on Wednesday and Angel met me at the park on Thursday. Our kids love playing together too, which makes it even more fun to meet up.

- Thursday with the girls. I had one of those "I'm an awesome mom" days. They don't come often, but I felt really cool and the girls and I had a really great time. First, they stayed at MMO for a few hours while I had a doctor's appt. Then, off to Burger King for lunch. They got to play in the kids area when they were done eating. Then, off to the library for story time. After the readings they got a chance to make some crafts with the other kids. We had so much fun that I signed them up for the summer reading club (you have to register to attend story time during the summer.) Then, a long walk around the duck pond. We saw baby ducks as well as a mama duck in her nest. The nest was right near the walking path, which seemed odd, but we tried not to disturb her as we passed. Sadly, I saw an egg just a few inches away from the nest with flies surrounding it. Hopefully the others are faring better. After the duck pond, we walked to the Village Green to splash our hands in the fountain (it was a hot day!) THEN, we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. Finally we headed home for a break before picking up Bill from work and going out to dinner. We had fun, but I was completely exhausted by the end of dinner. Having so much fun had worn me out.

- Watching the girls' skills develop over time. Even their drawing skills are a wonder to see. Blobs are turning into actual people and animals with eyes, noses, and other details. It seems like it happened overnight. Also, Maddie is doing really well at writing her name as well as other words. She's starting to phonetically sound out words and gets so happy when she has spelled something. Now she'll hear words and inform us that they start with the letter _ and end with the letter _. Josie too knows all of her colors and is trying (so hard!) to draw the letter "J". She loves to narrate what she's doing: "Line, then... Monkey Tail!" I know that everyone thinks their kid is a genius, but I'm just saying that I really love their zest for learning right now.

- Baking a quiche that worked out so well that I made it for company again a couple of days later. (No less than a miracle!)

- The Tudors. I love this show. It's one of those things that you don't think you'll care about, that you'll think is boring, and then you're completely captivated. I love Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and the rest of the cast is just as great. My only complaint is the inaccurate portrayal of history. I've noticed a couple of errors so far, but I guess certain artistic license has to be taken to make the story entertaining for a TV audience. Showtime has done so well with its other historical dramas (Bill loves Deadwood), and this one is no exception. There's a certain level of cheesiness about the show, but I'm also a sucker for Anglican history ever since a friend gave me The Other Boleyn Girl.

- Haagen Daz. We got a buy one, get one free coupon in the mail, so of course we had to use it!

- Summer dresses. It's one of the things I love about summer, and one of the things that makes summer in Atlanta bearable (or wearable, haha).

- Okay, I know I'm going to regret this (knocks on wood) but I am grateful for the fact that the girls are becoming more independent when it comes to bedtime. Only in the last week or two have Bill and I actually been able to kiss them goodnight and leave the room. For almost three years we've had to either fight to get them into bed or stay in their room with them until they fall asleep (which was awful because I would ALWAYS fall asleep too and Bill would have to come and wake me up to go to bed.) We used to lie in bed with them, but then progressed to just sitting on the floor near them. It is such a sigh of relief to be able to put them to bed so easily. Honestly, I used to dread bedtime for them. Bill and I would rather let them stay up until they were really sleepy rather than fight them for 45 minutes to get in their beds and stay there. All of this despite an elaborate bedtime routine. NOW I understand how other parents have time to do things in the evenings after the kids are in bed.