A sprinkle of pixie dust

Maybe I should be blogging about the fantastic trip that Erik and I took just the two of us at the end of May. Suffice it to say it was wonderful. Glorious. Magical. Did I say fantastic? Where's my thesaurus? Anyway, we had to drag ourselves home. Except that there was the draw of these two very cute kids waiting for us...

Here's the fairy, at her ballet recital last week:

In case you were wondering, yes, they were the cutest ones there!

If you are curious as to why they are all doing different things on stage, have you ever tried herding cats?

Luckily she didn't notice the giant crowd of people until towards the end! And like all good things in life, after all that time, effort and money, their performance was over just like that. Like, one minute and fifteen seconds. Um, can we get an encore?

Matthew thought his sister was the star of the show, clapping and screaming when she came out to perform. Only problem was he was trying to be the star from the audience. Needless to say the men left during intermission.

Cock-a-doodle-doo

You know your kids are early risers when...

...you can't remember the last time you had a good nights sleep, not to mention the recommended 8 hours.

... it's 7:15am and you are at the kitchen table, not for breakfast (that's been had a while ago), but for playing with playdough.

... the baby is having his first nap before "normal" kids are even awake.

... you wonder if its wrong for mommy and daddy to be in bed only an hour after the children.

... you don't know which to do first- lunch or naps.

I just giggle over these. Both are 9 months old. I just love those little bald heads! I also caught them both as they were first learning how to go from lying down to sitting up. Remember how they keep themselves awake those first few times? My kids just passed out from exhaustion, still sitting up. The only difference is one is in pink and one is in blue... and one is having to use a crib that his older sister used for teething! :)

The princess requests a breath mint

Picture this (only because I don't have one, and it would have been sight):

Grace is in her pajamas, with a reindeer barrette in her hair (don't ask), my baseball hat on her head, her dress-up princess kitten heels on her feet. We are in my bathroom, while I am having the daily pleasure of no privacy while I get ready. I am kneeling down at her level trying to have a serious talk when she runs into the closet.

Grace: "Ewww! It stinks!"
Me: "What stinks?"
Grace: "Your breathing!"
Me: "You mean my coffee breath?"
Grace: (holding her nose) "Yes!"

I humbly give you this glimpse into our un-romantic lives as retribution for when I was about her age. There is a well told story in my family of me holding my nose the whole time while my Gram read me books, also affronted by the smell of coffee breath in the morning.

Apparently no one has invented the odorless cup of coffee for adults yet. Proctor and Gamble, I give you this challenge. Meanwhile, excuse me while I go get a breath mint. :)

Dancing Queen

Now that you can't get that ABBA song out of your head...

We decided to sign Grace up for ballet this fall. We aren't doing preschool, so this was my concession for that. Plus, is there anything cuter than a miniature ballerina? It looks like it is just going to be her and her little friend, Novi, in the class. Nothing like a private lesson!

It was all the more thrilling because Erik left work a little early to catch the class (he said he adn Matthew needed a dose of football afterwards though). I was thwarted by mini blinds on the windows of the classroom that kept me from being a freaky parent with my camera and video camera so this is the only evidence I have from the night.

Grace declared on the way home, "I love dancing ballet!" And this morning she informed me that her teacher loved her, and she loved her teacher. Looks like we are still on a ballet high.

Cost cutting techniques

Looking to save a few bucks? Here's an idea. Just make sure your trustworthy toddler has access to a pair of scissors and decides to "cut coupons" for you.
In her defense, she has never done anything like this before. Hence the un-supervised access to her scissors. At least it wasn't a twenty!

Who needs me?

So, I am upstairs and I hear, "Mommy, I'm all done!" Hmm, all done cutting your own hair? All done feeding your brother things he shouldn't eat? I had been upstairs for all of 5 minutes, so surely it couldn't be too bad. Here is what I come down to find: Grace had apparently gotten herself up onto the potty (complete with reading material) and was done doing her business. I wonder what she needs me for? Oh, wiping. Well, at least I'm need for something.

And apparently also for kissing our first major boo boo.