One of those days....

By 12:00 today, here is a summary of my day:

6:30am: spilled apple juice all over the kitchen floor and inside of the fridge (and of course I mopped the floor yesterday because of the lemonade that spilled all over the floor yesterday afternoon)

8:45am: a entire sheet of cookies slid off the pan as I was getting them out of the oven and landed all over the inside of the hot oven, and down between the crack where the oven hinges open, and onto the floor below (more mopping to be done, and now an oven to clean....)

9:30am: I had to leave my step aerobics class early because my lower back was hurting me so badly. It's been bothering me for several weeks now (making walking painful), but I'm doing lots of stretching and trying to push through it. I'm not ready to give up my step class yet! I was SO depressed to have to leave early today :(

10:30am: Drive across town to Michaels to discover that they don't sell reams of colored paper (just regular computer paper, but colored). It's a craft store! Why wouldn't they carry basic paper?

10:45am: Because I now need to drive all over town to find basic computer paper, Erin and I missed story time at the library. Now Erin is mad at me.

12:00am: Arrive home (with paper!), and within 5 minutes of walking in the door, I get a phone call from Elaina's school. Elaina is fine (phew! I don't think I could handle any more bad news) but at lunch time the girl sitting next to her threw up and got it all over Elaina. Elaina didn't have a complete change of clothes, and so I got to make a surprise visit to the school (to bring clothes and to console my daughter who is of course totally distraught).

It's now 2:15 and my oven is cleaned, my kitchen floor is mopped (for the third time in 24 hrs), and Erin is cleaning the toy room without a fight! So far the second half of today is going better than the first and I hope it lasts :)

So grateful for these two...

I love to eavesdrop on Elaina & Erin's conversations together. Right now they are soaking in the bathtub and I'm listening to Elaina console Erin about an owie she has on her foot. Erin is afraid to put her foot in the tub because she's worried that it will cause it to hurt even more. I had to write down their conversation because it's things like this that I want to remember forever.


Erin is quietly whimpering about her owie while Elaina is consoling her, saying: "Erin we need to keep the owie clean so that it will heal. If you don't put it in the water and keep it clean then dirt and germs will get in it and make it worse. Trust me Erin. Don't worry Erin, it will only hurt a little bit, but it will make it all better in the end. I promise."

And it worked! Erin trusted her big sister, put her foot in the bathtub and now they're playing Mommy/Baby and the owie seems to be forgotten. I'm so grateful for Elaina's compassionate nature. I'm so grateful for the love & adoration they both have for each other and the especially close relationship that they have. Moments like these remind me how wonderful it is to be a Mom. I'm lucky to have such great kids!

Zoo!

Erin's preschool group when to the zoo a couple weeks ago. Here are some pictures...

look at how cute they are!

swinging like a monkey

it's impossible to get 7 kids to look at the camera at the same time!

Erin is always pretending to be Mary Poppins, so she was excited when her friend Julia let her carry around her umbrella almost the whole time!

Pinewood Derby: The "Bugs Buggy" Car

Mike offered to help a Cub Scout in our ward make a car for the Pinewood Derby (and one for his sister in the sibling race), and since he planned to attend to cheer the boy on, he decided to make one that Elaina could race too.


Mike has mentioned recently that he'd like to get into woodworking, but if you know Mike at all you know that he has more hobbies than he has time (or enough money to keep up with all the materials required for each). I tease him that his hobbies are always coming and going. But it's a trait that I love about him - that he's interested in so many things and loves to explore all of his interests. But I have to say I was totally impressed (and surprised) by his talent at woodworking and how much he enjoyed making the cars. I think he did a great job on Elaina's car, which he named "Bugs Buggy." Perhaps woodworking is a hobby we'll have to invest in after all...

Weighing only 2.5 oz (maximum allowed weight is 5 oz), it certainly wasn't the fastest car. Ok, it didn't even make it to the end of the track before slowing to a dead halt. But I think it was a pretty awesome looking car, and Elaina and Erin both had a great time racing it down the track in the sibling race.


Oh, and Elaina did help too - she "supervised" the whole operation. Typical Daddy-daughter project :)

Talents

Our primary is having a "spotlight night" later this month, and so I was talking to Erin about what she could perform or display to showcase one of her talents. I was explaining what talents are, and giving her some suggestions:

Me: "...for example, Elaina's talent is dancing, or reading. Daddy's talent is magic tricks. Mommy's talent is cooking. I know a talent that you have Erin...you're really good at taking photos! Maybe we can display some of your photos those since taking pictures is one of your talents."

Erin: "Ya! Oh, and I know another talent I have! I'm really good at sitting on time out!!"

I guess that's another option...we can take a picture of her on time out and put it on display! :)

**As a side note, I think she's suggesting that she's good at obeying her parents, by going to time out when she's told...not necessarily that time out is a hobby of hers. But it was funny how it came out nonetheless :)

I think I will still encourage the photography option. She's always walking around the house, snapping pictures of random things. Here are a few of her photos: