At The Library

It dawned on me recently that the girls had not spent any time in a real library, and so yesterday I took them to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. After asking the librarian politely for books on Sleeping Beauty, Emma and Caroline spent most of our visit in the Disney section- despite my efforts to interest them in a wider variety of titles. Fortunately, the Clifford books were next door to the Disney collection, and so we did manage to peruse those as well. The girls also received coloring pages from the librarian and spent a while making artful masterpeices for us to take home. We also took home a Tinkerbell book and a couple DVDs. It was a great introduction to the local library... here's hoping for more creative- and perhaps educational??- selections on our next visit!

Emma reading her selected picture book

Emma and Caroline coloring masterpeices

We Went to the Dentist!

Yesterday was the girls' first trip to the dentist. And yes, all you super on-the-ball parents out there, I know they are a little old to be going to the dentist for the first time, but it's just one of those things that kept getting put off! In any case, the overall experience was very positive, and the girls were happy and cooperative through it all. The atmosphere of the place certainly helped with their behavior. I have never been to a dentists' office with so many TVs, gaming consoles, and park-like giant animals to climb on. The dentist I went to as a kid had a smelly, old, and boring office! The news was not all positive, though, because it turns out Emma has four, yes, FOUR, cavities. We will be returning to see Dr. Hunt very soon to take care of them. Until then, the girls will be enjoying their new Disney Princess toothbrushes and will, unfortunately, probably continue to string floss around the house as if it were a party decoration...


Caroline gets her teeth cleaned



Dr. Hunt gives Caroline a check-up



Emma on the big Hippo waiting for her turn with Dr. Hunt




Dr. Hunt checks Emma out- and finds bad news :-(



The girls pose for their official first-visit photo

CDS Art Show 2012

For the second year in a row, we have been amazed by the fantastic artwork our girls are making at school, showcased in the annual Art Show. It is always a great way to let the kids show off their creativity and budding talents while getting to meet other parents and even "special guests" such as Mr. Lucas, the guitar-playing music teacher, and Clifford, the Big Red Dog.

Emma had especially been looking forward to seeing Clifford because when he came to school earlier in the week, she had been afraid to sit on his lap and only decided that she wished she had after he had left. The boo boo lip came out in full force until we let her know that he would be at the Art Show, and this time she had no reservations! For her part, Caroline was most excited about the face painting and just being with her friends. Is it just my 3-year-olds or 3-year olds in general that seem to do an awful lot of hugging when a friend has been spotted?? Of course, the fantastic CDS teachers were around to make sure it all went off without a hitch. Thanks to all who helped put on a great event.

Caroline in front of her artwork with teacher Roberta Patterson

Emma in front of her artwork with Ms. Roberta

Finally getting her chance to pose with Clifford

Clifford and Caroline

Emma's "Mariposa"

Caroline's "Easter Egg"











Conge 2012

We had a marathon weekend this past week, with the girls' annual school art show on Saturday (blog post forthcoming), a family wedding Saturday night, and Conge (my high school's annual fair) on Sunday. The pics above come from Conge, where there were horseback rides for the kids among many other games and treats. This was by far the main attraction as far as Emma and Caroline were concerned! While most of the other games cost no more than one ticket, the girls' expensive taste led them to spend four tickets each time they rode the horses- no fewer than 4 times each! Of course, there is always a ton to do at Conge, and the girls also enjoyed dancing to the live music with cousin Mary Elizabeth, playing the sand box and rubber ducky games, and convincing Papa Bill to buy them sweet treats all afternoon long. By 4:00, neither girl had had a nap, but both were still wanting to play games and pretend in the school playhouse. Needless to say, I had a  very quiet car ride home, neither girl making it out of Grand Coteau before they were asleep. It was a beautiful day, and as they say, a good time was had by all.

We Cut Our Hair!

It was time for a change, and boy did we get one! I'd reached the point where I had to have the girls' hair in pigtails or a pony tail not to be annoyed by just how much hair they have managed to grow in 3 years, so... we cut it! The girls were great sports as the inches came off, and after seeing Emma and Caroline's hair, another mom in the salon tried to convince her little girl to do the same thing. Guess they're trend-setters already...  Since the big event, we've been able to cut about 5 minutes off of the morning routine, and the compliments just keep coming. One woman stopped Ma Mere in the bathroom of a local pizza place just to tell her that Caroline's haircut was the "cutest little girl haircut" she'd ever seen. Unfortunately, Caroline may not be as convinced. She has already asked for long hair (as if we can produce it for her in the same way we produce rubber bands and bows for her hair!) and we are working hard on the concept of hair growth. But time to grow the hair out may not be Caroline's biggest problem: her parents, who love both the look and the convenience of the shorter hair, may never let it get long again!

While Mom is Away

Not much is harder than being away from the girls for an extended period of time, and that's just what I had to do last September for a job assignment. I was essentially "loaned out" to the States of Maryland and Vermont to assist in their emergency response efforts following Hurricane Irene, and I was gone for a solid two weeks. I worked 12-hour shifts without even weekends off, and needless to say, given such a schedule, I had little time to check in with Lucas and the girls. I missed them terribly! Ever the man for a challenge, Lucas was, of course, fine with the girls by himself, and on the occasions when we did talk, he filled me in on all of the fun things they were doing: trips to the zoo, outings at the park, even going to Target for new clothes since the weather had gotten cooler. Knowing how stressful my assignment was and how much I missed being home, Lucas took to sending me e-mails with pictures of what the girls were up to. Just everyday stuff, but they always brought a smile to my face, all the more so since Lucas was obviously going for a laugh of two as you can clearly see below... I'm fairly certain that other pictures had clearly been staged in an attempt to make me cry, however, and they very nearly did! Who doesn't want to be reminded that they're loved?? Those two weeks couldn't end soon enough!

At the zoo in those Target specials

One of the fun e-mails I got

Another e-mail. I made this one my laptop wallpaper :-)

The tear jerker!

Sisters

The weather has changed, and we are in one of the two best months Louisiana has to offer (the other being April), so we are trying to make the most of it with lots of time outside. Yesterday, after picking the girls up from school, I threw the French doors to our backyard wide open, served snacks on the patio and enjoyed one of those afternoons I hope I'll remeber for a very long time watching the girls play together. Of course, being super silly is the name of the game these days, so one of the preferred activities was running through the grass, falling down, and then shouting "oh man!". Whichever girl was not busy falling was busy laughing! They took turns playing this game until they had found just about every corner of the yard to fall on and then moved on to other games, always together and always making me think how lucky they are to have one another. At one point they ran towards each other, almost knocking each other over when they hugged and kissed. Emma said, "Mommy, my sister is very, very nice," and I couldn't help but agree :-) Just like I hope I never forget such heart-warming memories, I hope my girlies never forget how much they love and care for each other!

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, but I just love this picture of the girls. It was taken by my brother (who could start his own photography business!) in June.