what it means to be a sister

Tonight in the bath Abby did something unspeakable to Claire like use the very bucket Claire was about to use so Claire announced in her meanest, maddest, firmest voice "ABBY, you're not my best friend any more!!"

Patiently, Abby replied "No Claire, we are sisters. We will always be sisters. I will always be your friend."

Pretty smart for a five year old.

Two girls, two and a half years apart in age. It's not always easy. It's not always pretty.

But I am so, so glad they have each other.

princess for a day

Five calendars, two photo books, seventy five Christmas cards (when exactly did my Christmas card list get so long?). Christmas parties, Christmas craft time, Christmas story time, a Christmas tree lighting.

The holiday season is in full swing here. And did I mention the baby is no longer napping? And my husband and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary? My blog reader and my DVR are overflowing.

But I did manage to squeeze in a spur of the moment day trip with the girls this week. Some of my best moments as a mother involve spontaneous little adventures, days when the weather and my energy and their moods are all just right. Monday was one of those days.

After days of rain, it was suddenly sunny and 60 degrees. 60 degrees! In December! In New England! So we were off to Newport see a fancy castle all decorated for Christmas, otherwise known as Marble House.

My two little princesses were totally and completely in awe.Their eyes lit up as soon as the house came into view. It had a gate, just like Cinderella's castle!! And a grand curving driveway, to drive up in your carriage!

Inside we found princess stairs.

"Oh, Claire, we have to walk up like princesses" Abby announced.

So up they went with skirts in hand and heads held high, just like real princesses.

Then it was on to the real princess bedroom. Abby just stood for several minutes, eyes as wide as saucers, taking in every detail. The the ornate Louis XIV furniture. The garlands, nymphs, and cherubs. The silk covered walls. Goddess Athena painted on the ceiling. I could see the wheels turning in her head, thinking of ways she could make her room more like this one, as she pointed out each of these details.

Next the girls ran and played on the beautiful lawn overlooking the ocean and explored the tea house where Alva Vanderbilt once hosted rallies for women's suffrage. They even allowed me to get a picture of them together, which will appearing on this years Christmas card.

Our day continued with a stop to admire the scenery at Brenton Point State Park, a shared pizza for dinner, a shared hot fudge sundae for dessert and a visit to my aunt's house in Jamestown.

A perfect day that ended with two exhausted girls sleeping soundly in the backseat of the car in their cozy pajamas.

photography do's and don'ts

Tip #1: Do ask your kids if they can see themselves in the lens of the camera (if you have a DSLR camera). They can in fact see themselves in the mirror, and they will scoot together and look directly into the camera long enough to allow you to get a few shots.

Tip #2: Don't put your kids in stupid hats, thinking it will make for a fun and festive picture, then cut off the top of the hats in your picture. It will ruin your otherwise cute picture.

The quest for a Christmas card worthy picture resumes tomorrow...



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

raising martha stewart

I can't quite decide what the most girlie aspect of this scene is:

• That they requested this salad for lunch?
• That they are wearing dresses with coordinating ribbons and accessories?
• That they requested a picnic lunch?
• That they placed a small vase of flowers picked by Claire on the picnic blanket?
  
  

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

goodbye cape cod, goodbye summer

Although I have been faithfully taking pictures every day as part of my project 365, I have not posted all that many beach pictures here. Even I know that there is a limit to how many pictures of my kids at the beach anyone wants to see.

However, as the summer winds down and we leave the cape for the last time, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my summer favorites.

Abby proudly displaying one of her many treasures

small, but still calling the shots

Claire, reflected (inspired by Irene's great reflection shots)

sharing treasures

toasted marshmallows on the beach

napping, the essence of vacation

water babies

Look Mama! (inspired by Corey's great shots of exploration)

cold and overcast, but perfect for picture taking

And finally, my big shot of both girls together. It is not exactly the perfect beach shot I envisioned and their smiles are a little cheesy but I will take it!

the making of the perfect picture

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

About a month ago I bought the girls matching blue sweatshirts with a beach portrait in mind. Something causal, yet Christmas Card worthy. We found a night this week when both girls were in good moods and headed down to the beach just before sunset to take advantage of the beautiful golden light.

Unfortunately, dark clouds rolled in making for weird light and Claire refused sit with her sister and smile. Two year olds can be so frustrating. Just as I was about to give up, I remembered this tip, and tried having the girls look at each other instead. I did not get my perfect "Christmas Card" shot, but I did capture some sister love instead.

daddy's princesses

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My husband is a fan of boy things. Growing up with a brother, he played boy stuff. He is a huge sports fan. He enjoys video games. He plays the drums. He can build things. He can fix stuff. He owns power tools. He knows about cars.

His preferred activity on a Sunday afternoon is relaxing on the couch watching sports.

Our girls, however, have slightly different interests.

So on a recent rainy Sunday with Mommy out of the house, what did Daddy and the girls do? They had a dress up party. A party that included makeup, manicures and pedicures for each girl.

No question about it, these are Daddy's princesses.

party time

Yesterday, my husband and I did the best thing two parents could do for their children. We went out for the day and got Oma and Opa to babysit.

They arrived around 11am armed with flashing Ariel Mermaid tee shirts, rings and stick on earrings for each girl, a supply of junk food that mommy never buys, a new movie and a new pair of crocs for Claire. Oma's only request was that we set up our largest inflatable pool in the backyard.

I am not even sure the kids noticed that we left.

When we returned nine hours later, having thoroughly enjoyed a Red Sox game and dinner out, both girls were still over flowing with excitement.

"Mommy! Daddy! See me new pink crocs!" Claire said, twirling and dancing in her Ariel shirt, diaper and crocs. She was sweaty and covered with bits of the day's treats. She could not have been happier.

"Mommy! Daddy! We went in the pool and danced and colored and watched a movie and ate pizza for lunch and pizza for dinner and I had three pops! And LOOK, I got a tattoo!!" Abby said, her body shaking with excitement. She could not have been happier.

We have come a long, long way from the first night we left our newborn daughter in my mother's care for a couple of hours after she insisted that it would be good for us to get out. Together. Without the baby. She even provided a restaurant gift certificate.

That night, still wearing my maternity pants and filled with new mother anxiety, I worried that the baby could not possibly sleep or take a bottle without me. That she would desperately scream and scream for her Mommy. I checked my cell phone repeatedly, fearing that my daughter could not possibly survive without my actual presence.

Clearly, now they do just fine without me.

give a girl a water balloon

At the beginning of the summer, I stashed away a bag of summer treats. Fun and novel things I can break out as needed to add some excitement to a boring afternoon.

Today's treat? Water balloons.

Anticipating lots of wet water balloon fun, I put both girls in their bathing suits and got to work filling water balloons.

Then I got out my camera to capture all of the splashing, squealing fun.

Instead I got this:

Then this:


And this:


Clearly they were missing the point of water balloon fun, so I threw one at Abby. Surely once she saw saw the splat, once she saw the fun to be had, there would be some sort of water balloon fight?

No, there was just crying because I broke her balloon.

I am pretty sure this would have gone differently with boys.

this weekend in our yard

In typical New England fashion, the weather here has gone from cool and damp to hot, hot, hot. It appears that tomorrow we may even have record breaking 100 degree heat.

The girls embraced this sudden start to summer, spending the weekend exploring the yard, eating popsicles and running through the sprinkler. Good, simple fun.







And our baby birds? In a week they went from this:



Too this:



Since I am in no way a bird expert I was amazed to watch them grow literally over night. Wings and feathers just sprouted out of nowhere. In one week. One left the nest today and I am sure the other three will not be far behind.

Two weeks of sitting on eggs, a week or so of worm feeding and mama bird is done. Not a bad deal.

my girls

Today I happened to capture pictures of both girls at the park that pretty much sum up who they are.

Here is my little monkey, up in a tree.



Here is my little buddy, minus a hair ribbon, sitting by my side watching the action.

a perfect moment

As I drove home today in my station wagon filled with cases of Pampers and gallons of Tide, I thought about the post I was going to write today. I was going to write about all of the un-funness of being an adult.

I was going to write about our seemingly constant need for stuff. Not fun stuff, just stuff we need in our daily life like orange juice, diapers, deodorant and toothpaste. Stupid stuff that costs lots of money when you add it all up. Money that we have a lot less of since I quit the job that brought in almost half of the money.

I was going to write about ridiculously expensive car maintaince and how depressing it can be to go from one kind of life to another. From one way of seeing yourself to another. How hard it can be to adjust your thinking. How hard it can be to say I can not afford that now, even though I could before. How I accidentally threw out the receipt with all of my CVS Extra Care dollars ($15 of them!!) and how my bread was moldy.

But then something wonderful happened that I want to write about much more.

After picking Abby up from school I decided to let the girls play on the school playground. It is a small, completely fenced in playground so rather than being right with the girls as I normally am at a playground, I stood outside the gate chatting with some other moms.

At first Abby played with one of her friends while Claire dug in the sand by herself in the corner. The warm sun felt wonderful and everyone seemed happy. Good enough.

Then I noticed Abby go over to Claire and invite her to play on the teeter totter. I smiled as I watched them laugh and bounce together, like perfect siblings. I waited for one of them to fall or otherwise annoy the other since this is normally how these brief moments of sibling harmony end.

But instead they got off of the teeter totter and Abby very patiently helped Claire climb up the playhouse and over to the slide.

Claire is very cautious by nature and she is afraid of the slide. She will climb up but she refuses to slide down. No matter how much we encourage her, she screams and cries until she is rescued. As I continued to watch from a distance, I thought surely this would not end well.

But this time, with her sister's loving encouragement, Claire climbed on to Abby's lap and went down the slide. They landed together in the sand, a happy laughing heap of girl in the warm spring sun.

Instead of playing with her friends, Abby choose to be with her sister and to take care of her sister. And Claire conquered her fear of the slide. She was so proud of herself. I have never seen her smile wider.

This parenting thing, this adult thing, is depressing and un-fun but every now and then it does have its perfect moments.

a perfect park day

I love city parks. Central Park, The Luxembourg Gardens and of course Boston's Public Garden are among my favorites.

I love the fact that these parks attract people from all walks of life, from the newest of babies to the most elderly. Some people are dressed up. Some people are practically naked to soak up the sun. People are running. People are painting. People are sleeping. People are in large groups. People are alone. There are families, there are lovey couples and there are tourists of all kinds. There is usually music of some sort coming from some place.

All of it adds up to an amazing feeling of life and energy.

Before children, I would spend hours just enjoying the fresh air, watching the people and maybe taking a few pictures or doing some reading.

My trips to the park with my girls are obviously quite different. There is very little sitting around. They are all action- chasing birds, chasing squirrels, chasing each other, trying to fall in the pond and of course tumbling around the playground. They sit on my fabulous picnic blanket just long enough to eat and then they are off again.

There are things I enjoy about the park in all seasons, but a few times a year we get perfect park days here in Boston, when the weather is warm and sunny but not yet hot.

Yesterday was one of these rare perfect days, so I packed up the girls and the double stroller and headed for the city.


It was a perfect day. The beautiful, hundred year old trees were in full bloom. The air smelled of sweet cherry blossoms. Our Daddy meet us for lunch and bought the girls balloons. The girls ran and played until they collapsed into the stroller, exhausted.

I will savor the memories as the weather turns rainy and our preschool battles resume this coming week.

daily photo (365/50)

Today, two pictures:

First Pony Ride

Yes, I am concerned about the way this animal and all the animals at this zoo are treated. Yes, I let her do it anyway.

Little Monkeys

Two little monkeys watch three little monkeys eat cookies. These guys were Claire's favorite.

daily photo (365/44)

Kids in a Candy Store

Abby found a penny in the street today. Her first question: How much candy can I buy with this?

Our local candy store does actually still have penny candy, but Mommy splurged and gave her a bright, shiny quarter for jelly beans. Naturally, Claire had to get in on the action too.

a day of FUN

Since Claire had not been out of her pajamas in three days, I thought it was time to shake things up a little. The girls and I headed into the big city for a day (actually more like 4 hours) of FUN.

This FUN included a train ride, snacks, a visit to the Boston Children's Museum, pizza and lollipops.

Abby's favorite part of the day was climbing this. When I took this picture she was three stories up in the air, having climbed up a series of these platforms sounded by netting. No fear of heights for this girl. I, on the other hand, was a little sick in the pit of my stomach just taking this picture.

My sweet Claire enjoyed the bubble room and discovered an amazing toy--alphabet magnets. Claire loves letters. She loves books about letters. She loves to point out letters where ever we go. But for some reason it never occurred to me that she might enjoy this incredibly basic $2 toy. She found some today and her whole face lit up with excitement. Forget the high tech water room, Mommy, there are letters here.

Our regularly scheduled preschool, grocery shopping and bickering will resume tomorrow. I am even staying up extra late tonight to ensure a grumpy morning. Because I am smart like that.

daily photo (365/29)

Gum Flavored Ice Cream with Gum

The most amazing ice cream flavor ever if you are a 1 year old or a 4 year old. The most revoltingly sweet, disgusting concoction ever if you are a 33 year old.

daily photo (365/27)

Who is the Baby??

daily photo (365/24)

Happiness

by Abby

daily photo (365/21)

Tuesday is Library Day